Take Me There
by Madisun1020
Summary: Post 3x22. A new plot to kill Klaus is revealed. A Damon and Elena love story in the middle of intense action/suspense. (Summary is terrible, sorry.) Please read, enjoy, and review!
1. Chapter 1

**AN: So, this is my new fan fiction and I hope you like it! So far the plan is for it to have 22 chapters, one for every episode in a season. It's set after the S3 finale and 100% a Delena story, also a little Klaroline. Each chapter gets more and more suspenseful and leaves you hanging! I hope you like it. Please read and review!**

**Oh and all rights go to Julie Plec and CW…I own nothing!**

* * *

_Dear Diary,_

_ I know it's been a while since the last time I wrote you, but so much has happened. And I don't know if I have time to write them all down now. I want to start off by saying that you have always been there for me when I had to tell my secrets to somebody who would listen. Please don't let me down now. Well, here we go, I guess._

Elena looked up from her diary just as Damon nudged the twin bed she was laying in with his knee. Their bags sat on the adjacent bed, full of extra clothes and ready to go. And by the expression on his face, Elena could tell that Damon was ready to leave as well.

He held up his arms and then let them fall loudly to his sides. Impatient.

"I'll be ready in a second. Just go check us out and I'll meet you in the car," she said, shortly. He knew better than to say anything before he left.

As soon as he was out of sight, she leaned her head back down over the diary page.

_Okay, I've decided that I have to go back a little for you to fully understand. Maybe all the way back to last month, when this all began. I'd been a vampire for seven days. I'd transitioned the normal way; with a blood bag from the Salvatore's basement, and since then was feeding in moderation, socializing with the rest of Mystic Falls, and I even donated some of my blood to Meredith at the hospital. Nothing had changed from my time as human…_

**Three Weeks Earlier**

"So we'll need fifty balloons and a chocolate cake by Friday," Caroline directed the group that was gathered around Elena's coffee table. "I think if I cry I might be able to convince the bakery in Richmond to deliver. So does everyone know their job?"

"I've got the banner. 'Happy 17th Birthday, Jeremy!'" Bonnie laughed. "I think he'll love it."

"I'll make sure The Grill is closed from seven to ten," Matt announced.

Stefan held up his hand halfway. "I'm on drinks. Fruit punch and soda."

Caroline smiled and then cleared her throat at Elena.

"Oh right." She looked up from the point on Caroline's clipboard that she had been focusing on and blinked. "Assuming from the many Pizza Hut coupons left in my mail box this morning smelling faintly of _Viva la Juicy_, I'm going to guess you want me to bring pizza."

Matt chuckled.

"It's Jeremy's favorite, right?" Caroline's eyes sparkled.

Elena nodded.

"Are you okay?" Bonnie asked, seriously, leaning forward with a crease on her forehead.

Why wouldn't I be, she wondered to herself. Her brother was turning _seventeen_ this week. When had he grown so old? It seemed like just yesterday he was Elena's annoying little brother who read her diary and had a gap in his front teeth. And now he was killing vampires and wearing magic rings and losing everyone he's ever cared about.

While his sister waited for the day that she would hear the ring hadn't worked this time…

"Elena?" Stefan called her from her painful thoughts. "We're worried about you."

She smiled warmly at him. "It's nothing, really. I just can't believe this is actually happening…Are we sure he's already seventeen because I wouldn't mind putting this off a few years."

"That sounds great, Elena," Bonnie murmured.

"But," Caroline interjected, "I don't think Jeremy would still like to be considered a minor at twenty-one."

All of them laughed. "Finishing high school with a full beard," Matt added.

Elena looked around at their smiling faces. It felt good to be surrounded by her friends. She had been so scared that becoming a vampire would be dreadful. But she felt so alive.

"Look, on the bright side," Bonnie encouraged. "Things have been so quiet since Klaus gave Tyler his body back and left town. There's nothing happening supernatural-wise. It's almost…normal. Isn't it great?"

"Yes, I am," Damon yelled proudly as he swung the front door closed behind him grandly and sauntered past them to stand between Matt and Stefan. He reached into his jacket and tossed a brown paper bag onto the coffee table.

"Sorry I'm late for the party planning party but I brought what you said and I think I did a good job with what I had to pick from."

Bonnie removed the contents from the bag and held up a bottle of strawberry flavored tequila. "Really? This is tequila, Damon. You grabbed this from the back of your mini-fridge and didn't give a crap about Jeremy."

He snorted. "Course I did, Bonnie. The little guy's going to love it. God knows he could use some alcohol in his life."

"Well it's too bad," Caroline sneered. "Because while you were three hours late, we made the executive decision to give your position as beverage supplier to Stefan."

Damon looked sideways at his brother with hateful eyes. "Stefan, huh? And who made this _executive decision_?"

Caroline sat up straighter and looked to her right. "Elena."

"Elena?"

"Yeah, I did," she said emotionlessly, grabbing the bottle of tequila and moving toward the kitchen. Damon stepped so that as she passed, their bodies were merely centimeters apart. He stared down judgmentally at her with his blue eyes.

She threw away the wrinkled paper bag as Damon walked into the kitchen without making a noise. How could she forget he moved as gracefully as wildcat and as silently as a ghost?

To distract herself from his presence, she began unpeeling the green foil wrapped around the bottleneck. But with her shaking fingers and the added pressure of his watchful gaze, she only managed to rip the end off into little pieces. He sighed and replaced her hand with his. Somehow, he managed to pull it off quickly and with ease.

Damon lifted the bottle to his nose and inhaled in the scent before giving it back to Elena with a cruel smile. "So a man's a little late to party planning committee and suddenly," he put his hand on his heart and frowned teasingly. "Well it's like you forgot I have feelings, Elena."

"Can you be serious for one second?" she demanded, as she emptied the contents of the bottle down the drain. They didn't need _more_ alcohol around the house of two underage children. "Or do you act so childish all the time to hide the fact that secretly you do care and every weeknight you tape an hour of _One Life to Live?_"

"Wow, I'm impressed. That was cold-hearted and judgmental," he replied, appraising her up and down. He pointed a finger at her. "You _have_ been drinking, haven't you?"

She rolled her eyes and made a show of dropping the empty glass bottle into the trashcan. "No, but ever since you walked in I've been considering it."

He thought about what she said and nodded. "I have that effect on people."

She smiled a little, and then sighed. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to plan a birthday party for a boy still trying to get over the death of his guardian. I mean you can't on move on from something like that. At what point does it hurt him more by pretending like everything's all right, even though it isn't? And they," she pointed towards the family room, "They just want me to forget, but I can't. You can't just forget someone who's changed your life for good. Can you?"

He pursed his lips for a second and then shook his head.

Elena tucked a piece of hair behind her ears and cleared her mind. What was she thinking, bringing up Ric now? It wasn't going to help anything. It wasn't going to bring him back. She almost laughed at the thought.

"Listen, I know you couldn't handle bringing the drinks but I have another job for you," she told him.

"Really? And what would that be?"

She opened her mouth to speak when Caroline suddenly shouted from the other room.

"Um, birthday boy about to walk in, people! Get this stuff out of here!"

Damon and Elena exchanged a look of mock bewilderment and then raced each other into the living room where people were stuffing their assigned schedules from Caroline into potted plants and under the couch cushions. Stefan watched Bonnie and Elena try to pick up every piece of the hand-made confetti and finally nudged Damon to help him lift up the coffee table and dump the confetti under the rug that Matt and Elena had lifted.

By the time Jeremy walked in, everyone had hidden behind the couch and out of Jeremy's sight except Elena, who stood with a big smile on her face as Jeremy hung his jacket on the hook beside the door.  
"Yo, Elena, how you doing?" he wondered casually.

She looked around the seemingly empty room and shrugged. "Oh gosh. I guess I just sat down here this morning and never got up."

"So you didn't go to the grocery store? 'Cause I see bread and chips over there in the kitchen and we've been out of those for a few days."

As he spoke, Damon, who was apparently closest to her on the floor, stuck his hand up inside the hem of her jeans and tickled her leg. Caught off guard, she gasped and stumbled backward. Trying to steady herself only made her trip over her own feet more.

"Oh, right. Um…Er-yes! I went shopping today. And I got groceries. And nothing else," she promised. "Just groceries."

Very subtly, Elena threw her foot into Damon's shoulder. She heard a muffled cry.

"What was that?" Jeremy asked, taking a step forward.

"Nothing," Elena said and blocked him before he could get too close. She grabbed his elbow and dragged him halfway up the stairs. "Go change out of your work clothes and get cleaned up. I'll start dinner."

"Ooh, what are we having?"

"Um," she really hadn't thought about that before she said it. "Soup."

"Alright! With those little crackers and the—"

"Yes, yes. I will put out crackers with the soup," she interrupted quickly, pushing him up to his room. She waited till the door was shut before she sighed heavily and went back down stairs where everyone was coming out of hiding.

Elena immediately pushed past a stretching Bonnie to smack Damon in the chest.

"You're such a jackass!" she spit.

He snickered.

"I guess we better get going then," Stefan murmured. He kissed Elena on the cheek and whispered, "Bye."

She smiled to Caroline, Bonnie, and Matt as they gathered each of their individual schedules and left. Damon was last to go. As he prepared to walk out the front door, Elena glared.

"Oh c'mon," he chided. "You got to admit, I got you good."

She didn't answer. He sighed.

"Okay then. Guess I'll see you at Jeremy's party." Damon stepped out onto the porch, but Elena grabbed him by the shoulder.

"Wait, Damon," she called softly. "Don't you want to know what your job is for the birthday party?"

"Let me guess. DJ?"

She laughed. "No. Caroline has just about everything planned down to the last streamer but in her planning she forgot just one little tiny detail," she paused as he waited. "We need someone to bring Jeremy to the party. As in, keep him preoccupied for the morning while we set things up."

Damon blinked at her. Finally, he smiled. "You _are_ drunk."

"Ugh, Damon please! It's the easiest job. Just make sure he's not at the Grill before seven and then Matt will call with an excuse for him to come down there. That's all you have to do and then I swear I won't ask for anything else."

"But you will," he sneered. But Elena could see it in his eyes; he'd already given up. He would surrender. Of course he would grit his teeth, but he would surrender, nonetheless. "Okay, I'll do it, but no batting cages. I've learned enough from Denver."

She smiled in relief. "Thank you, Damon. He might not know it, but this is very sweet of you."

For a moment, Damon said nothing. He simply stared at her face long enough for her whole body to freeze into solid ice. Maybe it was something about the color of his eyes and that every time she looked at them she remembered the time when those eyes made her afraid. It wasn't that long ago, really, that Damon was set on antagonizing Stefan and everyone he knew in Mystic Falls. Especially Elena.

But was it really that different now? She wasn't saying that he was still the evil brother he used to be, but that didn't mean he still didn't scare her, because he did. It terrified her how much a part of her he was now, how tight of a hold he had on her morals. She wasn't fully aware of how strong her feelings were for him, and that was a reason all on its own to make her hands shake.

Fortunately for her, Damon dropped his gaze rather sharply and turned to stare at the empty street.

"Goodnight," he whispered. And then he left so abruptly that it left Elena reeling.

* * *

Elena rounded the corner of the hospital wing with Stefan on her heel.

"Thanks for giving me a ride here," she said over her shoulder.

"No problem," he looked around for the dark-haired doctor but she wasn't in the waiting room yet. "So what's up with the ominous phone call for you to meet Meredith here? She didn't give you any sort of clue as to what this was about?"

"None. All she said was that I needed to come down here because there was a complication."

"Complication?" he repeated. "What kind of complication?"

"I think I'd rather not talk about it out here in public," said Dr. Fell, coming up from behind them in her white lab coat with a clipboard tucked against her chest. "But there's something you need to see."

Stefan and Elena shared a glance before they followed her into nearby room.

Inside the small room, there was only space for one hospital bed and the necessary curtain and plasma screen setup. Even before she could see the elderly man sleeping in the bed, Elena could distinctly hear him. His breathing was so raspy and uneven that she guessed the poor man had to have some kind of asthma or lung disease.

As they approached his bedside, Elena became aware of the IV tubes transporting a clear liquid into his arm and the splint on his leg.

"Who is this?" Stefan breathed.

"Do we know him?" Elena asked.

Meredith shook her head. "And I'm not allowed to give you a name but I will tell you that this patient came in here four weeks ago after he broke his leg and hip in an accident at home."

"So?"

"Well, I knew him from around town; he's a very nice man and if you saw his medical history then you'd know there was no way he was going to survive another fall, not this time."

Stefan nodded. "So you gave him vampire blood."

"I _tried_ is more like it."

"What are you talking about?" Elena wondered.

Meredith hesitated. "I gave him a full bottle of your blood about an hour ago, Elena, and at first he was doing fine. But then one of the residents started sending in reports of an erratic heartbeat, difficulty breathing, vomiting, discoloring of the skin… and this man has never had Osteoporosis in his life but x-rays from today show accelerated signs that he's had it for years."

"Oh god," Stefan groaned.

Elena looked around the room and felt as if everyone knew something she didn't. None of what Meredith just said made any sense to her. But why was Stefan's face suddenly as white as a ghost? And why did she feel as if the horrific expressions were driven directly at her?

"What?" she demanded, her head snapping back and forth between the two of them. "What does that mean?"

Stefan turned to look at her with his green eyes. "We're not sure, but we think it might mean that your blood is actually doing the opposite of healing him. It's killing him."

Elena began to tremble so hard she thought maybe the whole room was vibrating. Her insides dropped to her feet in the very seconds it took for her to look down into the gentle face of the man she was ending the life of.

"Murderer," she mumbled in a low voice. "I'm a murderer."

"You're not a murderer, Elena. Trust me. It could be anything else."

"Well, actually, not to point fingers at you, Elena, but," Meredith interrupted. "We figured it _was _something else, even though these particular symptoms have nothing in common. So I slipped him more of the same blood and he only got worse."

"I can't believe this," she gasped. "Why is this happening?"

"We'll talk to Bonnie about it, I promise. We'll figure this out."

"And fast, I hope."

But before Stefan could answer, the man in the hospital bed suddenly shot forward and coughed a tremendous amount of blood onto the clean white sheets before him. He then began to hack so uncontrollably that his attempts at stopping for air only made muffled wheezing sounds beneath the coughing noise.

Elena and Stefan watched, shocked, as Dr. Fell struggled to keep his head up and airways clear, but it was no use. What happened next made Elena's stomach churn.

The yellowish, wrinkly old skin on his arm began to turn into slime and literally fall right off. At first she thought it wasn't real, she hoped it wouldn't be. But as globs of it turned into puddles on the mattress, she realized this was actually happening and not only on his arms. The skin that used to be over his cheekbones was now dripping from the sides of his mouth. His legs looked like melted Popsicles and Elena could even see into the red cavity of his eye sockets.

What was only a small moment turned into hours as all three of them wondered when his misery would finally come to an end. And then it did. All of a sudden, there was no noise, not even a heartbeat from the old man in the hospital bed.

Meredith placed shaky fingers to the side of his sagging neck and let her eyes close.

"He's dead."

**AN: Hope you liked the first chapter! If you actually did read it and enjoyed it, then I'm here to tell you that the next chapter will be posted within a few days. But right now, there's something I want to try. Just like the writers on the show, I want to give you the next chapter's synopsis at the bottom of each chapter. If this is something you would rather me not do (to spoiler-y for ya) then please let me know in the reviews or private message me!**

**So here's the synopsis for Chapter 2:**

_**THE BIG BLOWOUT-As Jeremy's birthday bash approaches, everyone must come together to do their part. Damon takes Jeremy out and gives him advice he won't forget and in return is surprised at how intuitive Jeremy has become. Elena worries about Meredith's latest discovery, and everyone has his or her own input on the subject. But it's Damon who shocks them all with his theory. Finally, the party is cut short by a deadly interruption and Jeremy's life is put in danger.**_


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Well, here's chapter 2! If you've liked my story so far, then keep reading! It only gets better from here! Please read and review!**

**All rights go to Julie Plec and CW. I own nothing**

* * *

Jeremy shut the door of Damon's car behind him and squinted at the building before him. It was hard to tell what it was exactly because there was no central sign anywhere on it that said the name of the place. And so, to Jeremy, it just looked like a very old brick warehouse.

"Would you mind telling me where we are?" he complained, his arms folded across his chest.

"You know, Jeremy, tons of people have asked me that same question," he replied, coming around the hood of the car and tucking the keys in his pocket. "Of course they're dead now, so..."

Jeremy rolled his eyes.

As it turned out, the inside of the joint was just as horrifying as the outside led it to be. The ceiling was low, the lights were dark and the air was thick with smoke. Tables and chairs were scattered across the floor and on the side of the room farthest from the entrance was a small stage with a drum set, microphone, and one hundred year old speakers.

Only a few other people were also in the pub, and all of them were middle-aged men with at least two empty beers in front of them. Jeremy turned to Damon and the question was in his eyes, _why are we here._

Damon waved with his hand. "Follow me."

He followed him to one of the more lighted corners of the restaurant near the bathrooms where a standard billiards table stood all alone. Jeremy lifted one eyebrow at Damon as he motioned to the table with a smirk on his face.

"This still doesn't explain why you brought me here."

He leaned against the side of it. "Well, I figured I might as well teach you the proper way to play pool. And if that doesn't work out then I guess I'll still have fun creaming you."

"O_kay_." He went to the narrow cabinet against the wall and took out two of the pool sticks and tossed one of them to Damon. He then proceeded to rack up the balls at the end of the table.

He didn't know why Damon hit him up for a ride into town just out of the blue like this. He never knew why Damon ever did anything remotely nice for him. But he did know the answer usually had something to do with Elena. And so he decided not to question it for the moment. He'd take Damon's pool lessons. Hey, maybe he'd learn something. But he'd keep his guard up.

"Now," said Damon as he lowered into the proper position. "The first rule of the game is never allowing your opponent see through you. Don't let anyone tell you different."

After he finished speaking, he shot the q-ball at the very tip of the pyramid formation and smoothly sank two separate balls.

"Nice," Jeremy commented. "But what do you mean, see through you?"

"C'mon, everyone's got that friend that tells every thought in their head through their eyes," he muttered. Then he laughed. "Oh, my bad. I forgot who I was talking to."

Jeremy decided to let that snide remark go. Instead of 'letting Damon see through him', he made a blank face as he took his turn on the table. He shot the purple ball into one of the pockets easily.

"Not bad," Damon said. "For a rookie."

"Oh and what, you're such an expert at this game?"

He shrugged. "_I'd_ say so."

"Yeah, probably because you compelled everyone you've ever played into thinking they lost so you could take their money."

"Fine, you don't believe me?" He turned to pivot his body around the q-ball and lowered his chin to the height of the table. "I'll finish this game before you have time to say 'dude'. Watch and learn, kid."

Jeremy sighed and leaned away so that he could see better. Just as he promised, Damon managed to successfully win the game in a matter of seconds. Moving with only human speed, he somehow knew which direction was best for each shot before he took it so that he could knock out at least two balls each time. The table was cleared in no time. Jeremy had never seen someone play that efficiently in his entire life.

Once he finished, Damon planted the pool stick upright beside him like a staff and leaned on it with a look on his face that showed he was pretty pleased with himself.

"What's the matter, little Gilbert? You almost look _impressed_," he sneered.

"Well, it's a good thing I've been taught how to not show my true emotions to my opponent then."

Damon smirked a sideways smile and then began helping Jeremy empty the pockets of all the balls. "Start setting up for a new game. I'll go get us a couple beers."

After Jeremy racked up the balls again for the second time, Damon reappeared with two cold beers in hand. He offered one to Jeremy and then pulled it back.

"You know, I really shouldn't allow this misconduct," he murmured sullenly. When Jeremy gave him a puzzled look, he added, "Elena gets pissed."

He rolled his eyes. "Look, Elena's my sister not my mother. And I think we can both agree she lost the right to tell me how to live my life after she compelled me to leave town."

Damon's eyes flashed. "Siblings can be a pain; buy my book."

"Right." Jeremy laughed and lifted his bottle. "Bottom's up."

"Say no more."

They both took a long sip followed by a pregnant silence where Jeremy took to reading the label of the beer. Damon watched the floor for a moment and his eyebrows pulled together.

"How's she doing, by the way?" he asked. "Elena?"

"What, you mean ever since that old guy in the hospital died from her blood?" he asked. "How do you think?"

Damon nodded.

"But why don't you just ask her yourself? I'm sure you have nothing better do with your time?"

"Because," Damon spat, searching for the right words. "It's adult stuff. You wouldn't understand."

"I think I do, though," he said quietly. "No one ever talks about that night anymore. I don't know why, but I'm scared that, if I ask, it'll make Elena upset, like since her emotions are heightened and everything…but you were a hundred miles out of town when Alaric supposedly staked Klaus, and Matt and Elena were on their way out too. It didn't make sense how they crashed _coming into_ town," Jeremy's voice died off. "I guess I came to my own conclusion about that."

He looked up to see how Damon took that. He was surprised to see, for once, that Damon was silent. He didn't know if he just had a loss for words, or had nothing to say, but for a while, Damon stared at the floor with pursed lips. Finally, he took a deep breath.

"Huh. I guess you're smarter than I've always thought, aren't you?"

Jeremy didn't smile. "That explains why things are so weird between you and my sister, but it doesn't explain the question of why are you still here?"

"Excuse me?"

"Why? Why stay in town? Wouldn't it be easier to move on without having to look at her face all the time anymore, seeing her everyday? It only makes it harder to forget."

"I should be gone. I promised Stefan I would leave," he murmured. "There's just never a right time to go."

It was quiet again because Jeremy really didn't know how to respond to that. So instead of answering, he lifted his beer bottle back to his lips.

"Why am I telling _you_ this, of all people?" Damon continued, questioningly.

"Because I really don't think you have anybody else to tell it to," he replied.

"You think you know me so well?"

Despite the strenuous tension, Jeremy chuckled. "Sometimes you don't do a good job of hiding your emotions from your opponent."

Damon actually smiled a crooked grin.

This is weird, Jeremy thought to himself. They had never done this before. Every other time he had ever been in Damon's company, he left with hurt feelings or a broken neck. Maybe he was just being nice because it was almost his birthday, or maybe Elena told him to. But whatever the reason, Jeremy decided to enjoy it while it lasted.

"Listen, I don't know why you're being so _pleasan_t all of a sudden," he said, taking another sip of his beer. "But when life gives you lemons…"

He thought Damon would join him in drinking, but he didn't. He hung his head down and just looked at the bottle. Jeremy would never understand what caused Damon to occasionally go silent and get this distant glaze in his eyes like he wasn't in the same room anymore, but he assumed he would rather not know.

Jeremy swallowed. "Hey, I'm going to go get another beer." But as he turned to leave, Damon caught him by the arm.

"Jeremy," he started. This surprised the both of them. Damon hardly ever used his full name like that. "If life gives you lemons, you _run_. Life will never be that kind unless it wants something in return. And that's when you lose it all. You hear me?"

He nodded, suddenly at a loss for words.

Damon didn't say anything more because at that moment, Jeremy's phone rang. Matt was calling.

* * *

"Damon's car just pulled up!" Elena shouted to the group from the window where she stood guard. "Everybody hide!"

She waited till everyone was out of sight as she inspected over the mass amount of party decorations that were elaborately put up in the Grill. Huddles of colorful balloons were scattered in every corner. The two-tiered chocolate cake stood on a long table next to a giant punch bowl underneath the grand birthday banner. But they all disappeared as she flicked off the lights and ducked beneath a nearby table.

Everyone had done his or her part to perfection. Not even Caroline had something to complain about. Now all Elena had to worry about was that Damon had done his job right.

The room was dead silent as they could all hear Jeremy's voice from outside and the jiggling of his keys in the lock.

"Wonder why it's closed," he mused to Damon behind him as he pushed the door open and turned on the lights.

"SURPRISE!" everyone shouted.

Jeremy's immediate reaction was shock that was then replaced with discomfort. The whole room was staring at him and he didn't like the attention. But he put on his happy face as Elena walked up to wrap her arms around him.

"Happy birthday," she said through her brilliant smile.

"My birthday's not for a few days," he said softly into her ear.

She giggled. "That's the point of the surprise, silly."

Jeremy couldn't help but laugh along with her. But then a thought came to mind and he turned around to Damon. "You knew about this the whole time."

Damon was already picking form a potato chip bowl that sat on the same table Elena had hidden under. He shrugged. "Yes, I got haggled into babysitting duty."

Elena shot him a glance.

"But don't worry," he continued. "It wasn't that bad."

As Elena guided him out amongst the party, Damon sat back at the bar, although they were not serving any alcohol, and watched the people he knew socialize with the people he didn't. After a while, he decided to try some of the punch, but its sickly sweet flavor left a strong aftertaste and a look of disgust on his face.

Occasionally, he would look up to see Elena looking at him as well. Usually, he would have interpreted a different meaning to these looks, but he knew she was just concerned with the way he set himself apart from the party. It was for the best. Who would want to mingle with him?

About an hour passed before Elena, Bonnie, Stefan, and Caroline found a moment to separate themselves from the group as well and formulate around the bar a few seats down from Damon. He very subtly slipped his hand behind his ear so that he could listen.

"…Didn't see it, Caroline," Elena accused. "He didn't die the normal human way. Actually it wasn't like anyway we'd ever seen before."

"No, Elena's right, Caroline," Stefan agreed. "Whatever happened to him was definitely supernatural and it started when Dr. Fell gave him a heavy dose of Elena's blood."

"You're sure she gave him _Elena's_ blood?" she asked.

"Positive."

"That must be it. It has to be Elena," Bonnie interjected softly. "Vampire blood heals humans. We've seen it happen a million and one times. There's something different about Elena's blood, specifically."

"Well whatever it is, it must be strong to actually decelerate the man's life rather than save it," Caroline added.

Damon couldn't see from where he sat, but he knew Elena winced.

"My only theory," Bonnie began, "is that it's Elena's doppelganger body rejecting the transition. Or in this case, her doppelganger blood."

"What does that mean?"

Damon stood up and closed the distance between him and the discussion group. "Come on. Can't any of you guess this on your own?"

"You think you know everything?" Caroline retorted, leaning back in her chair and crossing her arms over her chest.

"I know enough. Elena was a doppelganger, the only ever supernatural icon to walk the Earth that was through and through," he paused. "Human."

He leaned down closer to Caroline's ear to make her jump. "Otherwise known as the symbol of humanity, anyone would understand why this particular person's body might have struggles accepting the change. It's like puberty, but with fangs instead of pimples."

"But that doesn't explain Katherine," Bonnie corrected. "She had no problem feeding you and Stefan her blood when the two of you were humans."

Damon looked down to Stefan. "Is anything private anymore, brother?"

Stefan shrugged, his ears turning hot.

"I did say that was just a guess, didn't I, Bonnie?" Damon went on to say. "There's a better and more plausible reason that you of all people should understand."

"What's that?"

For the first time, Damon noticed the many people within hearing distance of them. He leaned in a little bit closer and lowered his voice. "A curse, put on Klaus by witches that if broken can be punishable by witches. And of course, someone had to be solely responsible for breaking this curse. And she sits right here." He laid his hand on Elena's shoulder.

"Get to the point, Damon," Elena urged.

"Isn't it obvious?" he demanded.

"So you're saying," Caroline drawled. "That the spirits have punished her to where…"

"To where her blood refuses to take on vampire qualities," Stefan finished, numbly.

Damon shrugged. "The risk was already there. The spirits just enhanced it along with everything else."

Bonnie cleared her throat. "If what you're saying is true, and, if we are planning on insisting that it is, then we have a big problem. Until we understand completely what her body is capable of, we have to consider it as a weapon. Until we get it under control, she can't give her blood to anyone."

"So what do we do?" Caroline gasped, finally understanding the matter for what it was.

"Well, first thing's first," Bonnie offered. "Make sure Meredith gets rid of every drop that Elena donated."

Stefan placed his hand over hers for a second. "Don't worry, Bonnie. Nobody else is going to get hurt because of this."

"You mean because of me, right?" Elena snapped.

Stefan opened his mouth to object, but slowly closed it. The look in his eyes was something Elena had never seen before. And right then she thought that maybe he was seeing her for what she was now: a monstrous killer.

"Let's talk more about this later," Caroline said. "We don't have to worry about it now at Jeremy's party. Can we just go have fun?"

Bonnie and Stefan turned to leave and participate in one of the games they were starting. Elena and Damon stayed at the bar.

"How did you know all that, Damon?" Elena whispered softly.

"I'm a hundred and sixty-nine," he breathed. "It's called wisdom."

Elena luckily saw this for what it was, a joke, and laughed a little. "This is crazy. Why can't I just be a normal vampire?"

"Trust me," he assured her. "You are anything but a normal vampire."

Elena sputtered, and then changed the subject. "Thank you for keeping Jeremy busy all day. To be honest, I thought you would let the cat out of the bag. But you did a good job and…" she leaned in closer. "I think he secretly looks up to you."

He smiled a little. "Your welcome."

Looking back on this moment later on, Elena never knew what would have happened between them if it hadn't been for the many things that happened next. First, all she saw was the blue of Damon's eyes clouding her vision and she didn't even realize his face was so close to hers until after. Then, Caroline shouted, "Time to cut the cake," and held up a glinting silver knife across the room that distracted Elena for a second. And lastly, with a thunderous _boom_, the entire west wall exploded into flames.

It all went down in seconds. One moment, Elena was almost about to do _something_ with Damon and in the next, the whole restaurant had a huge gaping hole in the side of it.

Millions of thoughts and possibilities raced through her head. Was it the council coming for Caroline? Was it hybrids with their age-old thirst for vengeance? Elena even considered a terrorist attack, and then briefly realized how normal that actually was.

And then she couldn't see it anymore, because two strong hands held her down behind the bar counter as another explosion hit, this time it landed inside the room.

Damon let Elena straighten up to look at the mess once the worst of the bomb was over. She was horrified at what lay before her.

Bits of wood and metal flew everywhere, shattering glass and spreading the fire. People screamed and shoved their way out of the Grill, some searching for their friends and family, others were hobbling with bloody legs and arms seeking help. Elena wondered if this was what it looks like in the middle of a war battle.

Distinctly and easily, she spotted Stefan, Matt, Bonnie, and Caroline out of the mass of frightened people. They were the only faces of calm she could see as they lifted the wounded out from underneath heavy rubble and hopelessly tried to douse the bright orange flames with fire extinguishers.

But where was Jeremy?

Stefan was sprinting toward them.

"We have to get everyone out first!" he shouted to Damon over the many screams.

Damon knew he was right. With a pained expression on his face he looked down to Elena and gave up. "You take her and make sure everyone's out as soon as possible! I'm going to figure out who's doing this."

"Be careful," they both said, pleadingly.

And then he disappeared out through the open wall. Elena turned to Stefan.

"You need to go with him. He can't handle this on his own. Whoever did this may be five times stronger than him. You have to help him!" she shouted to him.

Stefan nodded reluctantly. "And you?"

"I have to find Jeremy!"

He nodded once, before he left the same way Damon did.

Elena immediately shoved herself over the counter and out onto the floor. Dust and bits of shrapnel crunched beneath her shoes as she pushed through the crowds of people all trying to escape. The further she went, the more she realized just how much stuff was on fire. Her heart pounded furiously, hoping Jeremy was not caught under one of those things.

"Jeremy! Jeremy!" she cried, though her throat and lungs were filled with smoke. It was all she could do not to pass out. She guessed she could thank adrenaline for that. "Jeremy!"

A few feet away, Bonnie was throwing buckets of water onto a fire when she heard Elena's screams.

"Where's Jeremy?" she shouted, her eyes as big around as dinner plates.

"I don't know. You have to help me find him!"

"Be careful, Elena," she warned.

But Elena wasn't worried about that as they both starting calling Jeremy's name louder and louder. They dug through heaps of charred wood and came up empty. Finally, Bonnie spotted him lying on his back, eyes closed, a little bit ahead.

"Elena, look!" she pointed as she ran up to him.

They kneeled by his side, so relieved at the sight of him that they almost didn't notice the blood matted on his calf.

"Oh no, he's been stabbed!" Bonnie cried.

Elena took a deep breath so as to not smell the blood as she ripped out the piece of wood lodged in his leg and tossed it aside. She then slid her arm underneath his head and waited for him to wake up.

"Jeremy…please…"

"He's not waking up, Elena!"

No, he wasn't. Without thinking, Elena yanked down her sleeve and sank her fangs into her wrist. Just as she was about to lay it on Jeremy's lips, Bonnie's hand caught her arm, sharply.

"Elena, no! Remember? You can't do this! Giving him you're blood is going to kill him! Think about what happened to the man in the hospital. Don't let the same thing happen to Jeremy!"

Tears were suddenly streaming down Elena's face as she looked up into Bonnie's brown eyes.

"But what will happen if I don't?"

* * *

Stefan slid into stride behind Damon, his eyes alert as they searched the perimeter of the building. After going around three times, Damon stopped along the brick wall and turned to face his brother.

"Whoever did this is long gone, or in hiding," he said. "But without a clue of who it could be, we have no idea where to look."

Stefan blinked at his brother. He knew Damon's characteristics well, and this was probably the scariest one of them all. This was Damon's hunting mode, his merciless, bloodthirsty hunting mode.

"It can't be that hard. How many enemies do we have who can get their hands on two massive bombs like these?"

Damon sighed and looked up into the sky. Suddenly, he froze.

"Make that three."

Before Stefan could react, a small silver tubular device sliced through the air and cut right between the two of them with a whistling sound. It planted right into the brick wall inches away from their faces. For a moment, time moved slowly and he could distinctly make out the familiar markings in the side of the missile, before he and Damon were launched backward on impact.

* * *

Elena and Bonnie were still arguing even after the third bomb went off in the back of the building, blowing out the second wall so that the far side of the ceiling began to collapse.

"The whole roof's coming down! I have to hurry and heal him, Bonnie. It's worth the chance!"

She shook her head longer than necessary. "We don't know the extent of what your blood could do to him. It's too risky!"

"Riskier than asking the spirits to bring him back after he was shot?" she countered, as two more ceiling tiles rained down on them. "It's not so different, Bonnie!"

"Yes it is! This time it's only Jeremy's life hanging in the balance."

"I have to do this!" Elena suddenly burst out. "I have to save him. I have to know I _can_ because he's my brother and I have to be able to save him. I have to, I have to…"

Bonnie was silent as she continued murmuring "I have to, I have to…" and sobbing loudly. There was nothing left to say, nothing left to argue. At that moment, Jeremy's fate was completely out of their control.

Just then, Caroline and Matt rushed over to them. Matt grabbed the completely distraught Elena and tried to console her with hushed words and after a moment, she calmed down.

Caroline went to kneel beside Bonnie over Jeremy's body. At Bonnie's solemn nod, Caroline bit her wrist and let the little drops of blood drip through Jeremy's open lips.

Much to Elena's relief, Jeremy's fingers began to twitch and his eyes fluttered open. Dazed from the mixture of happiness and sadness, she leaned over him and pressed her forehead to his chest.

A deafening crack resounded through the now empty Mystic Grill. It was all about to come down.

"We've got to get out of here now!" Matt instructed. Him and Caroline got on either side of Jeremy and supported him as they pushed their way through the debris.

The ceiling began to turn to ash and rubble behind them.

* * *

Damon lifted up his head and saw Stefan doing the same from beside him. Somehow, they made it through the explosion with their heads on.

As they began to sit up, they noticed the amount of damage that had been done to them. At least a few broken bones, cuts, bruises, and serious road rash. They shook off the pain, although they were already almost halfway healed.

He chuckled. Good thing _they're _blood was fine.

The sound of distant fire alarms made him turn his head, and he caught sight of the Grill.

What was left of it now were just piles of charred wood, slabs of concrete, and the tall pillars of black smoke that came from the remaining fires. The third bomb must have blown down another wall, causing the ceiling to concave. The entire building was completely gone.

And then it was as if he and Stefan both remembered at the same time that Elena and her friends were still in there.

They climbed to their feet and ran with vampire speed to the edge of the rubble where the wall came to about their shins. Their eyes searched the hazy smoke, hoping for some kind of sign of life. Finally, they saw it.

Elena, Bonnie, Caroline, Matt, and Jeremy stumbled and crawled their way out of the mess and fell onto the pavement beside where the brothers stood. Stefan immediately went to them.

As _he_ got closer, though, Damon started to notice something off. Jeremy's leg was soaked in blood, yet he seemed fine. Elena leaned over him, tears in her eyes.

"What's happened? What's wrong?" Stefan demanded.

Elena slowly lifted her head. "I couldn't heal him."

"Who did this?" Matt asked as he helped Bonnie to her feet.

"We don't know," Stefan answered. "All we saw was that the bombs had some sort of ancient markings on them. But we couldn't get a good look before it exploded."

"Besides, the more important question is why did they do it?" Damon mumbled. "Were they targeting someone inside?"

Elena stared down at her brother who sat and said nothing. She was so glad he was alive and at the same time all she could think about was the look on his face after Damon delivered him to the party. He seemed so happy. Couldn't they go back to that moment, when Damon was keeping him occupied…

Wait. Why did this make a connection for her? Why did this make two things click in her head?

"A distraction," she whispered so quietly even she could hardly hear it.

"What?" Stefan asked.

She nodded. "A distraction. Whoever bombed the Grill was just trying to keep us occupied while the real attack happened somewhere else. It makes sense. It was the perfect opportunity. I mean we are _all_ here. They didn't mean to hurt us, just distract us."

Many glances were exchanged between them as they considered this. But it was Damon who finally figured out the last piece of the puzzle.

"You've got to be kidding me," he breathed.

* * *

Elena and Stefan followed behind Damon as he launched through the front door to the boardinghouse.

He'd left the bombsite with his cryptic words still in the air. Caroline, Matt, and Bonnie stayed back to take Jeremy home, while Stefan and Elena went to see what Damon was so worried about.

"Damon, tell us what's wrong?" she pleaded, but he was already up the stairs and in his bedroom.

They came in just as he began digging through the logs of firewood beside the fireplace. Once that was empty, he threw all of the clothes out of his dresser and tore away the sheets on his bed. Finally, he sank to his knees and cursed.

"Damon…" Stefan whispered, unsure whether to walk any closer to him.

Elena looked back and forth between the two of them. "Please talk to us."

Something seemed to pull Damon out of his reverie, because his eyes found hers and then she knew something was terribly wrong.

"The stake's gone."

**AU: Tada! Chapter dos! Thank you to all of the readers who have stuck around this long! You guys are the story's bread and butter (whatever that means)! And remember, if you didn't like the synopsis and you think it ruined this chapter for you then please let me know! Every opinion counts! But until then, here's the synopsis for chapter 3:**

_**GOING MENTAL-As the town tries to recover from the terrible tragedy, Stefan pitches in but Damon lets him know what their priorities are. Everyone worries about Elena's current state of mind, but she is determined to prove them wrong. Finally, Damon takes Elena out to search for clues and they make a shocking discovery.**_


	3. Chapter 3

"Would you like a hat, Mr. Salvatore?" the girl with the blond ponytail carrying a box of bright blue baseball caps asked Stefan as he picked away at a pile of bricks.

"No thank you," he replied politely.

"I'll take one," Damon called from behind him where he lounged back in a plastic lawn chair, his arms behind his head.

They had been at the crummy remains of the Mystic Grill since eight o' clock that morning doing cleanup committee. Everyone Caroline had signed up and the rest of the town had been working hard in the humid air all day trying to remove all the rubble and debris and hopefully find things that were still salvageable, all except for Damon.

"You know you have to do actual work to get one of those hats right?" Stefan murmured to him as Damon secured the blue cap that said HOPE FOR MYSTIC GRILL to his head.

He leaned back and closed his eyes. "Please. They should be giving me _medal_ after that explosion. The way I handled being inches from that bomb…just inspirational."

"Say that to the kid who got his ear blown off."

"Oh come on, as long as he doesn't get any of Elena's blood, he'll be fine."

"What are we going to do about that by the way?"

Damon opened his eyes. "Believe it or not, that's not our current concern right now. So I'm taking Elena out to Klaus's abandoned mansion, just in case our little thief happens to be one of his siblings."

"And the chances of that are…"

"A million to none, but we're better safe than sorry. And maybe it'll give us a hint as to where Klaus is."

Stefan continued to dig through the crumbles of stone and ash under the hot sun for a few more minutes until he saw the edge of something silvery glinting where it wasn't shrouded in dirt. He carefully picked it up from the ground and held it between his fingers.

"Jeremy's ring."

Damon sat up and removed his hat. "He must've lost it in the middle of all the chaos."

"Can you imagine if Caroline hadn't been there to save him," Stefan murmured. "He'd be dead, right now."

"Supposing the arsonist _wasn't _supernatural, he would've died either way," Damon corrected.

Stefan shrugged, not wanting to think about what could have happened and slipped the ring into his pocket. "What's the story, anyway?"

"Liz and Carol were thinking about going with the standard burger frying gone wrong excuse. They said they wanted to keep this one on the down low. The council even thinks it was an accident."

"What's the point of that?"

Damon rolled his eyes. "Who gives a damn? The point is the Grill cooked so that someone could break in and take our stuff, and I'm going to find out who did it and rip their tongues out."

"Well as long as your diplomatic about it," Stefan remarked.

* * *

From across the wreckage, Elena and Caroline were sweeping up a section about six feet wide near where the front entrance used to be.

"Nobody said it was going to be easy," Caroline replied to something Elena had said about the man in the hospital. "I mean you knew there were going to be challenges."

"Yeah I was worried about killing somebody because I was hungry, Caroline, not because of who I am. Somebody's dead because of me, but it's completely out of my control, which means there's no way I can stop it."

Caroline smiled. "I guess I would know a little bit about wanting control."

"You're right," Elena laughed. To lighten the mood, she shuffled up a pile of dust and swept in roughly into Caroline's direction.

Caroline gasped and giggled, and threw the dust back at Elena.

Laughing and shoving, they fought with the brooms for another moment. Elena missed this. It seemed like so long ago that Caroline and her were just teen girls hanging out and having fun and being normal. But just because they were vampires stuck in the same age forever didn't mean they couldn't still act the way they used to. It was great that that wasn't lost.

After they calmed down, Caroline put herself together and sighed. "Are you sure you're going to be alright? I know you, Elena. You keep your emotions bottled up until one day you explode. And in vampirism, those emotions are multiplied by ten."

"What are you getting at, Caroline? You think I can't handle my emotions?" Elena asked, trying not to get mad. "Who else feels this way? Do you all just sit around waiting for me to crash?"

"No, Elena, it's not like that," she assured her. "But what about Jeremy? He's worried about you the most."

Elena hesitated. She had put off talking to Jeremy until she was about to leave with Damon. "I'll tell him that I'm fine and there's no reason to worry, although I know he will."

Caroline nodded. "I think that's best."

* * *

Elena peeked through the crack in Jeremy's doorway. "Knock, knock."

Jeremy swiveled around in his desk chair to smile at her. "You can come in. I won't bite."

She laughed a little and then went to sit on the edge of his bed. Outside the window, the sky was turning orange. It was almost eight o' clock. Damon would soon be wondering what was taking her so long.

"I don't have a lot of time," she started.

"I know you and Damon are going somewhere, Elena. But I also trust you when you say it's just a search for clues, right?"

Elena nodded. She appreciated the fact that Jeremy said he trusted her, she just didn't understand why he should have to. Was she missing something? "It's not far. Just the house Klaus stayed at before he left Mystic Falls. We figured the only way to stop whoever's trying to kill him is find the weapon or find the target. This place might have the answer to at least one of them if we're lucky."

"We haven't been lucky in a very long time," he corrected.

"But there's always a tomorrow," she added.

He nodded mechanically in agreement. "So are you going to be okay…with all this?"

"Of course I am, Jer. I've made it through worse," she said, softly. "I only worry about you worrying."

Jeremy looked down at the floor and Elena took this time to reach into her pocket and take out the ring, which Stefan had given her after he found it in the rubble of the Grill. She gently reached over and closed it into Jeremy's fist.

"Got this back for you."

He held it up and slipped it back on his right ring finger. "You know what's funny? I didn't even realize it was gone."

From outside, there was a honk.

"That'll be Damon," she whispered.

"Go," he urged. "I'll hold down the fort while you're away."

* * *

Damon and Elena pulled up into the substantial driveway of the newest and most out of the way building in Mystic Falls. As he got out of the car, Damon was taken back at how big it actually was. He'd only ever been here about twice since it was built, and neither of those times had been happy memories.

"Is there any chance I can get you to stay outside until I clear the place?" he gambled, not taking his eyes off the massive house.

"You didn't ask me to come just so I could wait in the safe zone," she countered, her voice steady and strong.

He shrugged. "Worth a shot."

From the inside of the mansion, one could hardly use the word _abandoned_ with its stereotypical meaning. In reality, the last time it had been occupied was only a few days ago before Rebekah disappeared. It hadn't had enough time to grow dusty or moldy or dark. As Damon led Elena to the back of the house, he felt as if one of the Originals was still here, waiting for them.

"So what should I be looking for?" she whispered from behind him.

"Don't ask me," he replied. "Just find your inner Sherlock Holmes."

Damon took his own advice and tried as well, to the best of his ability, to do whatever it was he meant. But nothing he saw was suspicious enough to investigate further. It was all lavish couches and décor, last week's newspapers strewn about on the end tables, half-empty glasses, and a faucet still dripping. To the naked eye, this would seem like a perfectly normal house. Until you looked deeper.

Once they reached the back of the house, still looming with a little construction left, they came to a door. It stood awkwardly behind a grand piano, half open, in raised portion of the living area. Through the crack in the doorway, Elena saw a large bed.

"That must be Klaus's room," she murmured, aiming her flashlight at it. "I'll go check it out."

Damon made a face like he was saying _I'm not an idiot_ and moved in her way. "No chance. You'll stay in here while I search the room."

Elena was persistent. She stepped around him. "If you're going in, then I'm coming with you."

"Come on, you've seen the movies. That's the belly of the beast, the evil dude's lair." She ignored him and walked about halfway across the space before he flashed in front of her with vampire speed. He looked into her eyes, his face deadly serious yet sympathetic. "I don't know what's going to be in there, Elena. Trust me, it could be things you won't want to see."

"I think I can handle Klaus's underwear," she retorted.

"No, there might be things in there that _you_ specifically won't want to see. Please, Elena," and his expression was so sincere that Elena blanked. Usually when Damon went intense like this, it was for a reason. "I can't stop you from going in, but just be prepared."

All she could do was nod as she followed him, now slower, into the room.

It was a large room, as could be expected, with a king-sized bed covered in burgundy satin sheets pushed up against the wall to the left of the entrance. Surprisingly though, the space around the bed was cluttered and messy. Three different dark wooden dressers stood against the other three walls, each covered in various books, boxes, statuettes, and papers. The one facing opposite of the bed connected to an ornately carved vanity. The walls were textured like stucco in a light gold.

Beneath the jittery feeling left from his own words of warning, Damon could tell Elena was a little disappointed. The room was everything she could have guessed it would be: antique looking and really very grand.

Damon leaned his nose close to the surface of the bed and smirked. "Mmm…Klaus has been busy."

She rolled her eyes. "Can we please just search and go?"

She watched as Damon began raiding through each and every drawer, even running his fingers along every crevice to make sure Klaus did not have any secret compartments or trap doors. Most of them were empty except for a few articles of clothing. Elena soon got tired of analyzing his repetitive task but feared searching any place of her own.

After convincing herself she was just browsing, she got down on her stomach beside the bed and lifted up the satin skirt to look underneath. More books. More boxes.

Randomly, she took out a flat white box and opened it. Inside were many rocks in different shapes, colors, and sizes. But they all had one thing in common: they looked like the moonstone in some way. This must have been his collection while he was searching for it. Elena couldn't imagine how many times someone came to him claiming they'd found it, but gave him a fake.

She then picked out one of the thicker leather-bound books covered in a layer of dust and read the title, which was listed in French and then in English. _The Curse of the Sun and the Moon._

Flipping through the thick yellowing pages, Elena noticed that each word and picture was done by hand in a spidery script that stayed consistent even to the end. Whoever wrote this must have been able to write for hours and never get tired.

And then it hit her that of course the writer's hand didn't cramp up ever, because the writer was Klaus.

She gasped. Damon heard her kneeled down to get a closer look at what she was holding. "Did you find something?"

"This must have been one of the very first documented sources on the Sun and the Moon curse. Elijah told me that he and Klaus started the whole curse thing so that both the werewolves and vampires would compete to find the moonstone and the doppelganger. And then the legend started to expand on almost every continent."

"And that's how we found it in Isobel's research," he added.

"I guess Klaus hunted these down after he was sure the story was planted deep enough but…" she shrugged. "I just never thought of Klaus as nostalgic."

Damon looked around the room. "Yeah, you never know a guy until you break into his house and search his private quarters."

Elena grabbed the first half of the book between her fingers and opened it to a random page in the English section. On it was a heading that said 'The Aztec Legend' at the top alongside a drawing of a man morphing into a wolf. She turned to the next chapter about 'Undead Homo-sapiens' and then to another about the moonstone.

It even described how the moonstone was created, although Elena wasn't sure how much of it was true. According to the book, the moonstone was the only remaining piece of a larger wall made up of calcified…_moon water_, which is water from a small pond under a volcano that gets direct moonlight, and destroying it was the key for werewolves being able to turn at will. That actually might have been the actual reason why Klaus doesn't have to turn on the full moon either.

Interested, Elena went on to the next chapter, only to wish she hadn't.

The first thing she noticed was her own face that Klaus had sketched out himself but with thicker eyebrows and longer, wavier hair. Then she realized with chilling certainty that she was staring at a drawing of Tatia.

After that, everything sort of made sense. There was a wolf chapter, a vampire chapter, a moonstone chapter, and now the doppelganger chapter. It explained how the doppelganger was the pinnacle of human sacrifice and how each one would be born about five hundred years apart from the Petrova line. The worst part was where it described her face and features.

To her, this whole chapter was like a wanted poster.

Her fingers froze around the book. Thankfully Damon reached over, took the book from her and set it aside. He then wrapped his hands around hers in comfort.

"You going to be okay?" he whispered.

"You were right," she avoided the question. "I wish I hadn't seen that."

He smiled wryly and lifted his hand up to stroked along her cheekbone. She rather liked it when he did that. Somehow the tingling electricity of his skin on hers made all her troubles disappear for the short time that they were touching. But then they were gone and her worries came rushing back, stronger than ever.

"Caroline was right," she sobbed. "I can't handle this. It's like every ounce of my body feels it when I'm hurt or sad."

Tear lines ran down her face. "Will it always be like this? I boil and boil until I erupt?"

"I don't know. It's different for everybody…"

She was about to ask him to touch her again, when from somewhere in the house, glass shattered.

"Did you hear that?" Damon asked, as he slowly stood up and walked out the door. After a second, she followed him.

Nothing seemed to be looming out in the open living room. Everything was quiet and calm again. The only difference Elena could detect was the light coming in from the windows was darker and more silvery. The sun had set and the moon was up. But other than that, there was no activity. Maybe the noise was just their imagination.

Damon quickly gave the second floor and third floor a once over and blurred back down the stairs to meet her at the bottom.

"Come on, let's check the ballroom real quick and get out of here."

The ballroom was a vast space with a high ceiling and smooth intricate patterns on the floor. Elena had only ever danced in this room on the night of the ball, but Damon had also been held in here by bear traps when Rebekah took him. She shuddered, glad that she had never seen that bloody picture for herself.

The newest addition to the grand hall was a massive white sheet that hid something wide and flat like a plasma screen TV, standing against the west wall. Damon was also intrigued by the cryptic looking object and walked close enough that he could rip the sheet off in one sweep. It fell in folds to the floor.

For a brief second, Elena could distinctly see that the object beneath the sheet was the biggest mirror she'd ever seen in her life that could be moved around on wheels and flipped over on a golden axel rod. Elena also noticed her own pale reflection, before the entire thing shattered into jagged pieces and crumbled to the floor. The sound was just like the one they had heard from Klaus's bedroom.

Once there was absolutely nothing standing between them and the wall, Elena and Damon noticed something that changed everything.

There, on the white wall, was a complicated and ancient looking symbol painted and still dripping wet in black paint.

"Is that…?" Elena began in shaky voice.

"Yup," he replied, popping the _p_. But she could tell that he was just as stunned as she was.

"Then I guess we agree," she stated. "There's someone watching us."

**AU: Thank you for reading chapter 3! Please review and sorry it took so long to upload but I just finished writing chapter 4 and it's a little nuts, if I do say so myself! I'm really excited for you guys to read it! But for now, here is the synopsis:**

_**MEETING OLD AQUAINTANCES- Damon responds strongly to their latest discovery and Elena soon becomes a part of his mission, learning a piece from his past and coming face to face with a piece of her own. Bonnie has an ambitious idea that could help them immensely, but her control quickly spirals out of hand. Lastly, Elena surprises herself by trying to prove herself to a stubborn Damon but ends up doing something completely out of the ordinary.**_


	4. Chapter 4

"Get in the car," Damon barked, not looking at Elena as he opened the driver's side door.

"No," she protested, acidly. After following his orders by taking picture after picture of the symbol on the wall and cleaning up Klaus's bedroom like they had never been there while he snuck away and made a cryptic phone call to God knows who, Elena just wasn't in the mood to obey him anymore. She wanted answers. "I'm not going anywhere with you until you tell me what the hell is going on?"

He stopped cold, his back tensed. He turned around and leaned against the open door. "Get in the car, Elena."

She folded her arms across her chest, unmoving. "Who was on the phone?"

"Get in the damn car, Elena."

For a moment they just stared at each other, their eyes burning into one another but no one moved. Elena had no idea why Damon was so hesitant to just tell her what he knew, who was on the phone, why the symbol on the wall sparked such a panic in him. But she wasn't going anywhere until she knew.

Eventually, Damon's face softened and he sighed. "_Please_ get in the car. I swear I'll explain everything on the way. But we have got to _go, _now…"

His pleading gesture was enough that she decided to not enjoy her victory. Instead, she pursed her lips and slid comfortably into the car, pulling her legs up onto the seat and blaring the heater.

Soon, he was beside her and they were gunning down the interstate, past the sign that read 'Welcome to Mystic Falls'.

"Okay," she murmured. "Start talking."

* * *

Bonnie threw the half-eaten slice of pizza back into the empty box and leaned against Caroline's couch. "Oh, I'm stuffed."

"Me too." She swallowed her mouthful and sat up on her knees. "I'm guessing there's no room for cookies and ice cream?"

Bonnie groaned.

Caroline's mother had called earlier that day to let her know she'd be working late on the Mystic Grill case, which actually meant she would be trying to lead the rest of the force to dead end trails so they wouldn't know it was actually a supernatural attack. So she asked Bonnie to come over. They could use some relaxing time away from the distress that was going on in the rest of the town.

But she still felt guilty about it. "Do you think this is wrong? A building just blew up and we're eating pizza and watching a Grey's Anatomy marathon."

"Yes, but Izzy just kissed Alec and you know they're your favorite couple," she giggled.

"I'm serious, Bonnie."

She sighed. "Trust me, we have more on our plates right now than they do. Actually, I wasn't going to tell you this until later tonight, after we broke out the vodka and you pulled it out of me, but there may be a spell I could try…to locate Klaus."

Caroline's eyes widened. "Shut up. Shut up! If we could find Klaus, then we could tell him what's happening and make sure whoever took the stake doesn't use it on him. But it won't be that easy. Will it? Unless the spell calls for everything under the sun and some mystical dude's blood. Because I thought you could only do a locator spell on humans—"

"Whoa, Caroline, slow down," Bonnie laughed. "I said there _might_ be a spell, which means there's only a small chance it will work. And you're right; locator spells are easier on humans but not impossible on vampires. I'm just worried about how powerful Klaus is. He may be able to fight me while I'm performing the spell."

"Is it dangerous?" she asked.

Bonnie shook her head.

"Then tell me what you need to do."

* * *

"You were in a _rock band_?" Elena demanded to Damon, the first time she had raised her voice since they started driving a half hour ago. "Gosh, you've never talked about your time in the eighties. Now I know why."

"I didn't say I was _in_ a rock band," he corrected. " I said I _ate_ one. Big difference."

"But what does any of this have to do with the mark on the wall?" she sighed, sifting through the many glossy old photos Damon had pulled from his cluttered glove compartment of him hanging around a bar in Memphis. It was just an ordinary looking bar, although Damon's old-fashioned appearance made her smile a little.

Damon nodded toward the photos, but didn't take his eyes off the road. "That bar in those pictures, it's called Charlotte's. I used to go there every night in 1986. They had great beer, awesome music, and after the sun went down it was a vampire's all-you-can-eat buffet."

"I could have guessed as much."

"But that's not the point, judgy," he retorted. "What I was getting at is the bar only had one busboy in the entire time I went there. I never thought anything of it until I saw the symbol on the side of that missile, and then again on the wall in Klaus's mansion."

Elena sighed. "I give up. How the hell did that symbol make you remember a busboy you knew twenty-seven years ago?"

"You took pictures of the wall, right?"

She nodded, impatiently.

"Good. Now I may be wrong, but I think I remember seeing that symbol in 1986, sort of a square with an x inside, shaved into the back of the busboy's head," he told her, proudly. "It was the style then."

"Wow," she breathed. "This is creepy. Please don't tell me the Grill was bombed by a fifty-year old busboy."

"It's not really about the busboy. I think it's Charlotte's. The things that happened there were…creepy."

"How creepy?"

"Creepy enough to grab the attention of a vampire. Drinks would never run out, the band could play all night without stop, and any guy who didn't pay his tab could be found no matter where he was," he explained.

"Damon…" Elena sighed.

"What would you know? You were still just waiting around to become an effect of John's teenage hormones."

"So you think whatever is in this bar might lead us to answers about who's following us?" she asked.

He nodded. "And if the stars are aligned, our little stalkers will be the same folks who took the stake. But the only way to know for sure is if we go and investigate ourselves."

Elena sat back in her seat, her eyes wide as if she just realized what was going on. A laugh burst through her lips. "We're going to _Memphis_?"

Damon grinned, smugly.

* * *

"Okay so I got the candles, the map, the grimoire, the bowl, the works." Caroline announced as Bonnie walked into the dim living room. "Did I miss anything?"

She smiled warmly and kneeled in the middle of the circle of candles. "Everything's here. Um, did you call Matt?"

"Yes. He said Jeremy's going to give him a ride considering Matt's truck is still on vacation in Atlantis and all."

Bonnie nodded and began finding the proper spell in the grimoire. Caroline gave the spell circle a wide berth and went to sit in the rocking chair by the fireplace. She wanted Matt to be here with her. All of the witch stuff never made her comfortable and having a human friend by her side would ease her. She didn't know whether it was in her vampire nature or if it was just the silly little girl inside her that made her back ramrod straight in her chair.

After a moment of spooky silence, Bonnie hesitantly gestured toward the open book. "There is one more thing that the spell calls for, and I need your help to get it."

"It can't be that bad right?" Caroline giggled. "What does it need? Dragon tooth? Hair of a phoenix?"

"Well, this book says we can use perform a spell that can locate a vampire, but the familiar locator spell that I used to find Elena calls for the blood of a relative. So we have to use the vampire equivalent: a sire from that vampire's bloodline."

Caroline blinked. "Oh that's me!"

"Yeah so if you could just hold out your hand," she pulled her wrist over the bowl and as gently as possible, ran a wooden needle across her palm. The blood fell in small drips. "And think about something else for a second."

After everything was in place—the map of the U.S. was laid out before Bonnie, looking so large that Caroline worried they would never be able to find Klaus, and Caroline's blood was to her right—Bonnie closed her eyes and clasped her hands together. Simultaneously, the candles lit.

"Ves montos tribos, siet oncrio cle si…" she began murmuring.

Luckily, Matt and Jeremy arrived after a few minutes and Caroline thankfully jumped up to get the door, leaving Bonnie alone with her spell. She initially held her finger to her lips at the boys and motioned for them to follow her into the kitchen.

"Sorry you had to come all the way out here this late, guys," she whispered, beginning to straighten up the counter.

"Of course. We were just happy to hear there was something Bonnie could try to find Klaus," Jeremy replied.

"It's just weird," Matt added. "For a long time, all we wanted was to get rid of him. Now it's all we can do to bring him back. What if those people who leveled the Grill and took the stake find him first? Would he be able to stop them before they take him and his entire bloodline out?"

Caroline shook her head as she tossed out an empty plastic cup. "I don't know. I'm still trying to get over the fact that he, for just a moment, was indestructible. I mean, immortal's immortal right?"

"Maybe that was the case a month ago," Jeremy muttered. "But not anymore."

Caroline's laughed lightly and humorlessly. Nothing about this situation was funny. Her friends' lives and her own were at stake, no pun intended, and everything depended on stopping the freaks who broke into Damon's bedroom.

But would that be enough? Klaus has been leaving trails of blood across the Earth for over a thousand years. Surely he's acquired many enemies since then, enemies that would not rest till they found the stake and drove it through his heart.

She shuddered. One step at a time, she reminded herself.

Matt opened his mouth to offer to help Caroline pick up the kitchen, but before he could say a word, there was a crash from the living room.

"Bonnie?" Caroline called as they rushed in, Jeremy the quickest.

There, on the floor in the middle of the spell circle, next to the map covered in red blood, Bonnie lay flat on her back, her eyes rolled to the back of her head, and she was seizing uncontrollably.

* * *

Elena followed Damon into the restaurant, warily.

"Wow," she breathed. "Can't say I'll ever be able to look at the Grill in the same way. This place is _amazing_."

And it really was. Elena was so used to the dingy yet charming bars of home and Damon's past. This time, she didn't know what to expect. But it certainly wasn't this.

Of course, it still had the dark and old feeling to it, although it felt so clean that Elena could eat off the floor. The wooden tables sparkled in the perfectly placed lighting and smelled faintly as if they had just been taken from the forest. This aroma was inviting to her vampire senses. At the back of the large room was the bar made of the same wood that extended to both corners of the wall. Behind it was a shelf full of expensive looking bottles, shining by a bright white backlight.

Along with the quality appearance, Elena was surprised to detect not even a whiff of smoke in the air, despite the various men and women who sat inhaling their cigarettes.

"This is where you'd feed every night?" she asked, running her finger along the edge of a table. Her finger came back clean.

He noted her skepticism. This didn't seem like a place where you could get away with something like that. He smiled mischievously and nodded toward a door off to the left, deep in the shadows. "Follow me."

Behind the green door was a small room, rather unremarkable compared to the rest of the bar, and basically empty, until Damon flicked on the single light bulb and she saw a broom and bucket against one of the walls.

"A janitor's closet?"

"Practically abandoned. Although the impression from the front room suggests otherwise, this room hasn't been stepped in since my last visit in 1986," he explained, proudly. "So no one would accidentally walk in while I was having dinner."

"You would lead them in here, feed, and then compel them to forget everything?"

He leaned his shoulder against the door. "This place gets awfully crowded after the sun goes down. I'd love to show you sometime."

Elena scoffed. "We're here for a reason, Damon. Remember?"

"Tonight then?" he suggested, and then opened the door. "But until that time, can I interest you in a drink?"

She gave in with a sigh and went to take a seat at one of the comfy bar stools. As Damon settled into the next stool, someone called from behind her.

"Elena? Elena Gilbert?" The voice was a young man, probably Jeremy's age, and sounded so familiar. Elena recalled this voice from the muddy memories of her childhood as she turned around to see who it was.

The face was just as familiar as the voice. A tall, lean boy around fifteen or sixteen in a white cotton t-shirt with blue eyes, thick lashes, and a shock of wavy sandy hair was smiling a dimply smile at her as if he'd just been told something pleasant but shocking.

And then Elena remembered. "Ashton?" she gasped. "Oh my god, it's been so long."

"Five years," he agreed. "How've you been? I heard about your parents…"

She shook her head. "Forget about it. I'm okay."

"So, what are you doing here?"

"I was just going to ask you the same thing."

Damon cleared his throat, irritatingly, his elbow up on the bar, his eyes narrowed and shrewd.

"Oh I'm sorry," she said. "Ashton, this my friend Damon. Damon, this is Ashton. We were best friends back in junior high until he moved to Indiana with his mom. He's Matt's cousin."

"Please, call me Ash." He held up his hand but Damon predictably watched it until it fell.

"The quarterback's cousin, huh?" he remarked.

Ash nodded. "Yeah, Matt's always been a big star on the field. I was just the

nerdy guy who stayed in and studied for his history test like my mom told me to."

Elena laughed. She had forgotten how much she missed his sense of humor. "How is your mom?"

But she regretted asking the question because as soon as she did, his eyes grew sad and color leached from his skin. Elena knew this look. This look had probably been on her own face about a million and one times, anytime someone would ask about her parents.

"Oh," she whispered. "Oh god, I'm so sorry. If I had known…"

"You couldn't have," he assured her. "Besides, it was over two years ago. And three days."

"H-how?"

"She, um, well we went to the lake house for the weekend," he began.

Elena felt her body go cold. "Our lake house?" she asked so softly, through barely moving lips.

"Yeah actually. Your parents were supposed to meet us there but they called and said they couldn't make it because your mother's sister was in town. Anyway, she drowned taking a swim by the dock."

Damon glanced at Elena, but she refused to meet his gaze. All she could focus on at the moment was getting the oxygen in and out of her lungs.

Maybe it was a coincidence, she told herself. It didn't matter though, because she wasn't going to think anything more of it until she knew more. There was too much going on right now anyway. So instead of worrying, she changed the subject.

"So how did you end up here in Memphis?" she quickly asked.

Ash boosted himself onto the counter and slid his legs around to hop down on the other side. "After the accident, I came down here to live with a friend of the family. Got a job as busboy not long after."

"Busboy, huh?" Damon repeated. He nudged Elena in her hip so that Ash would not notice. She shoved him away, knowing exactly what was on his mind.

"Yup. Pay's a little low, but it keeps me busy. Hey, you guys want a drink? It's on the house," he offered.

"There's that Tennessee hospitality I was waiting for," Damon replied, and rested his chin on his hand. "I'll take a bourbon on the rocks."

"And you Elena?"

She shrugged. "Can't. I'm not old enough."

He looked around and leaned in closer until his breath was on her nose. "You look like you could use a beer."

* * *

"Bonnie!" Jeremy screamed, and lurched forward.

Matt yanked him back by his shoulders. "Dude, you can't go into the circle. I've seen her do this kind of thing before. Her mind is locked into the spell. If you go in you could kill her."

Caroline was bouncing on her heels, tucking her hair behind her ears, holding in a sob. She had never seen her friend suffer like this. She was torn between looking away, and watching to see what happens.

"Isn't there something we can do?" Jeremy begged.

"Matt was right. Every second that goes by, the dead witches are finding Klaus and telling her through her head. Just look at the map."

The boys did, and saw exactly what she meant. Through the light of the wild-moving candle flames, the puddle of Caroline's blood was spreading, morphing into a more slender shape similar to a comet and swirling around the different continents until it rested on North America.

They all waited, frozen in their spots, for the locator spell to find a more specific spot. But all of a sudden, the blood fell back into its oval puddle and the candles went out.

Bonnie opened her eyes, but they did not see the room around her.

She opened her mouth, but the voice was not hers.

"Bonnie Bennett," it stated. "You are in over your head."

* * *

Charlotte's bar was alive with action. Dozens of people had begun to pour in hours beforehand, the music grew in tempo and volume, and Ash had flipped a switch beneath the bar just before he left that changed the lights from dim to a flickering stream of neon beams that punctured the room from different angles, glancing off the skin of the dancing drinkers.

Damon turned his head to assess Elena's reaction from where they still sat at the bar. "Your eighteen years have nothing on this."

"I hate to admit it, Damon," she murmured, not taking her eyes off the party scene. "But you were right."

He leaned his head back until it touched the surface of the bar counter. "God, I love those words."

She laughed, but it was true. Her life up until she met Damon was always played in the safe zone, never pushing her limits. If it weren't for him, she would have never had half of the experiences that she'd shared with him in the past years. As unbelievable as it seemed, Elena was actually glad she was here.

"This is so cool. And these people will do this _all night_?"

He grinned at her like he was actually proud that she just as strangely fascinated by these exotic humans as he was. "Wait till you taste them."

Elena frowned. "I think you can count me out of the massacring portion of the night, thank you."

"Oh, but that's the best part," he pouted. "Or are you afraid Ash will find out?"

Her jaw dropped, flabbergasted. "When did Ash become apart of this?"

"Please, I saw the way you acted around him. All of a sudden you were little Elena Gilbert, the one who dated the jock and minded her parents and _just said no_ about twenty annoying, splinter-in-your-side, please please please put me out and end it times a day. You even turned down a drink. Back at home, you drink all the time."

She bolted upright in her chair. "So what you think before I met you that I was just another version of those desperate girls you drink from all the time? Because I wasn't, okay?"

"You don't have to defend yourself, Elena," he said. "I think it's kind of hot. Annoying, but hot."

"How can you be so lofty?" she demanded.

He looked her up and down. "Did you learn that word on your _study dates _with Ash?"

"Okay, we didn't have study dates." Suddenly, Elena remembered quite clearly one afternoon at Ash's house that Matt had talked them into something rather unholy. She hesitated for a minute, pondering whether this was something she wanted to share with Damon. But the part of her that just needed to prove him wrong won over.

"Alright, I've never told anyone this but you've forced me… I smoked with him," she admitted, unwillingly.

His hand flew to his mouth, teasingly. "No."

"Yes. I did it once. Matt convinced me to try some of his mom's cigarettes so I did. But I didn't like it so I haven't smoked since."

Damon looked out onto the crowd, his eyes resting on the various smokers and he got this sparkle in his eyes.

"How about this?" he bargained. "You want to prove to me that you are not a goody-goody? You'll smoke."

"What? No!"

"Shh, shh. It is the perfect opportunity. Half the people here are hammered, so who the hell is going to care?" He wrapped his hands around one of hers and pressed it to his chest. "We'll keep it between you and me, I promise."

Elena didn't have time to consider his offer, because her phone rang in her pocket and she hurriedly removed herself from the pressure of his gaze to answer it.

"Elena?" asked Stefan from the other end.

She put her finger against her ear but she couldn't drown out the loud noises. "I'm sorry, Stefan, I can't hear you. Hold on a sec."

She ignored Damon's spiteful expression at Stefan's name and found her way into the separate room he'd shown her earlier. After the door was shut behind her, all that was left was the faint pulsing of music.

"Okay, I'm here. What's up, Stefan?"

"Hey, I'm just worried about you. Damon told me you were going to check out Klaus's mansion, but that was more than a day ago. What's going on?"

"Well." She swallowed, nervously. "We're sort of in Memphis."

There was a pause. Elena could picture exactly what face he was making. "Memphis? As in Memphis, Tennessee? What are you talking about? Elena, Memphis is nine hours away."

"Yeah, I…I know."

"This was Damon's idea, wasn't it?"

"No, actually," she murmured. "It's a long story. We found that same symbol that you saw at the Grill while we were searching his house and—"

"And Damon just took this opportunity to sneak you away," he finished. "Elena, can't you see what he's trying to do? This was all part of his plan."

Her eyebrows pulled together. "His plan to lead us to the people who took the stake?" she demanded, angrily.

"That's not what I meant."

"Then what did you mean? Because I don't even think you know."

Stefan sighed. "He told me if you chose me then he'd leave town and leave us alone. While you're out having adventures with him, why don't you just casually ask him when that's going to happen."

Elena sputtered. The fact that he would just easily give up something personal that he and Damon talked about was appalling. And she didn't appreciate the fact that he didn't trust her enough to let her go on this trip with Damon. Her fingers clenched around the phone.

"You know what, Stefan? I'm staying here in Memphis because it's my responsibility to Bonnie and her mother, and Caroline, and Tyler, and myself to find the stake and if Damon knows how to help me than I'll gladly let him. And by the way, he _did_ leave town, I just went with him."

She snapped the phone shut and stomped back out into the bar, fuming. Her mind was so clouded with hot red anger that her response to the woman holding a cigarette between her fingers in front of her was different than it normally would have been if she were in her right mind. Distraught from her conversation with Stefan, she ripped the cigarette from her hands and inhaled it.

Damon watched her return to her seat, staring at what she was holding, with an arrogant expression.

"I'm impressed," he complimented. "Now, how about some dinner?"

* * *

"Bonnie Bennett," the strange voice continued. "Did you really think I would be beaten by a witch? I didn't spend a thousand years being undetected by the spirits' magic just to let a child like you ruin everything. You won't find me, but if you continue to try, there will be consequences."

Bonnie relaxed and her eyes found sight again. She sat up, dizzily.

Jeremy rushed to help her up. "Hey, are you okay? You scared us."

Matt kneeled at her feet slowly so that he wouldn't frighten her. "Do you have any idea at all what just happened?"

She blinked numerous times and glanced around her. "No, I-I don't. I mean, I remember doing the spell and it was working fine. Then the spirits came in and they were telling me where Klaus is but something went wrong. The connection broke, and everything went black. What happened?"

Caroline, Matt, and Jeremy exchanged a worried glance.

"I think Klaus happened," Jeremy finally answered.

* * *

Elena lifted her head from the strawberry blonde's jugular, blood dripping down her chin. Gosh she was a mess. But Damon was no better as he drained the same girl from her other side.

There was no way Stefan was right about Damon having other intentions on this trip, and Elena was proving that right now. This was her decision, not Damon's. He didn't talk her into it and he couldn't talk her out. She was feeding on human blood because _she_ wanted to.

But Lord, did it feel good.

She had never done drugs before, never drank too much apart from one or two occasions, and so this sense of high felt strange and foreign. Her body was accepting the blood far more than it did on Stefan's animal plan. The taste was so warm and rich that she couldn't get it down her throat fast enough to make room for more. Now she understood why Damon was so unwilling to change his diet. Why hadn't she listened to him all along?

But she couldn't care less as she sank her teeth into flesh once more.

The next time she came up for air, Damon's head came up with her. And in the light of the dark janitor's closet, she could see his face and knew it was a mirror reflection of her own. The deep red eyes, the purple veins beneath them, and the blackening blood that was smeared around his lips.

He dropped the girl to the floor and wiped his mouth on the back of his hand. She did the same, the both of them breathing heavily.

"Don't worry," he said to her. "She'll get back to the party in no time, and this will have never happened."

It took a moment for her to understand why his words weren't what she wanted and she cringed.

She wanted for this to have happened, so Stefan could find out. So Stefan could know that she was going against the 'Bambi blood' as Damon called it. She practically wanted to take a picture of the puncture wounds in the girl's neck and shove them in Stefan's face.

And then the overwhelming guilt took its place right where it always goes in her stomach, only now it was intensified, because she wasn't being fair to Damon.

"I shouldn't be doing this," she murmured.

He waved her off. "This was just your first time, Elena. You've got to hold off on the pity party until _after_ you ripper an entire village."

"No. No, really. I'm not doing this for the right reasons,"— although she didn't know what the right reasons were to drink someone's blood— "I should be fair to you and I'm not."

"What are you saying?"

"I only decided to feed with you to get back at Stefan. He really got under my skin on the phone earlier and I did this to spite him. I'm sorry."

Elena didn't want to see the depressed look on Damon's face, so as soon as she finished her apology, she walked out and kept walking until she was sitting out on the sidewalk with her knees up to her chest. The sun was rising in the East, but it didn't warm her.

After about five minutes, Damon came out and stood in front of her. "I fed her my blood, and then compelled her to forget about it. She's already back in the crowd and drinking again."

"Damon…"

"I got us a hotel room for the rest of the night. This place was just a dead end. We'll head back after we get some sleep."

Numbly, she nodded and followed him back to the car.

* * *

Jeremy handed Bonnie the cup of water and sat next to her on the sofa. He's never seen her in such a weak state.

"How are you doing?" he asked.

"Better, definitely. Especially after having my body taken over by a hybrid who could be a thousand miles away or he could be ten thousand miles away."

"Do you think he has a witch of his own, wherever he is?"

She shrugged. "I know there's no way he could have done that on his own. Unless he's been growing stronger ever since he left.

"I can't believe how things went down I was so sure this would work."

"Hey, you and me both," she smiled. "But there's nothing we can do if he doesn't want to be found. Because witch or no witch, if Klaus doesn't want to be found, he won't be found."

"Let's just cross our fingers for no witch, maybe we'll _something_ in this situation will be in our favor."

Bonnie took a sip of her water and set it on the end table. He casually laid his arm on the back of the couch behind her. She seemed grateful that he was there, and that was better than the alternative.

"Thank you for the water," she said. "I'm glad you're here."

"Me too. I just wish Elena was back already, so she could be here with us too."

"I know, Memphis suddenly seems so far away," she agreed.

"Wait," he interjected, confusedly. "Memphis? I thought she was just downtown. Why the hell did she go to Memphis?"

Bonnie blinked, unable to understand his puzzlement. "She didn't tell you?"

Jeremy became fully aware of what was happening. His sister was nine hours away but she didn't bother to let him know in a phone call. He looked down at the ground, his nostrils flared.

"No, she didn't."

* * *

Matt walked into the kitchen and set the bucket of carpet cleaner in the sink, where Caroline was vigorously scrubbing the bloody bowl with dishwashing soap. After a moment of intense, finger-pruning cleaning, she gave up and set the bowl aside.

"Thanks for the help," she said to him.

He smiled and shrugged in an innocent way. "That's what I'm here for. Besides, you shouldn't have to deal with this alone. Tonight was…weird, and crazy, and you can always call me and I'll be here with you the whole way."

"One step at a time," she murmured to his feet.

Matt looked at her face intently, trying to read the emotion in her eyes. On the surface, she appeared to have it together when underneath she was ready to burst. He wanted to make sure everything was okay before he left.

He took a deep breath. "How are you doing, Caroline?"

"You mean, has it all gotten to me yet? The overwhelming anxiety?" she laughed with dark humor. "I don't now. Everything was just starting to be okay again like it was sophomore year, and then one night it all goes back to sucking."

"Pun intended?" he asked, jokingly.

Caroline giggled her high, bell-chime giggle, but it was shaky. Matt watched as her face squinted into something new and her giggle turned into a tearless sob.

"As hard as I try not to forget about him, I just can't. He's a nightmare, Matt. And I'm so _afraid _of him. I'm so afraid…"

He quickly wrapped his arms around her shoulders to hush the weeping. They rocked back and forth on their heels for what seemed like forever. The more Caroline shook, the more terrible Matt felt inside. It felt like these times had changed Caroline so much; her light, her fire had gone out. Sure, it sounded cheesy, but it was the honest truth.

He held onto her hoping that one day, her light would return.

* * *

Elena paced back and forth across the hotel room, biting the nail on the thumb of one hand with the other on her hip. Damon was in the other room, packing up there belongings.

She glanced at the glowing digital clock for the thousandth time, but it still showed that it was almost four o' clock in the afternoon. They'd basically slept the first half of the day, until Damon woke up and went out to bring back food, real human food. The whole time, neither of them said a word.

Underneath her bed was a carry-on bag, filled with various personal items. But one item in particular kept calling out to her, sending shockwaves through the air.

Finally, Elena gave in and ducked down under the bed, retrieving her green plastic leather diary and one of the hotel's stationary pens.

Minutes passed with her sitting on the made bed, tapping the cap of her pencil against the edge of the book, biting the inside of her lip, wracking her brain for what she wanted to write. But then, all of a sudden, the words came to her.

_Dear Diary,_

_I know it's been a while since the last time I wrote you, but so much has happened. And I don't know if I have time to write them all down now. I want to start off by saying that you have always been there for me when I had to tell my secrets to somebody who would listen. Please don't let me down now. Well, here we go, I guess._

Elena looked up from her diary just as Damon nudged the twin bed she was laying in with his knee. Their bags sat on the adjacent bed, full of extra clothes and ready to go. And by the expression on his face, Elena could tell that Damon was ready to leave as well.

He held up his arms and then let them fall loudly to his sides. Impatient.

"I'll be ready in a second. Just go check us out and I'll meet you in the car," she said, flatly. It was the first time she'd spoken to him since they left Charlotte's.

As soon as he was out of sight, she leaned her head back down over the diary page.

_Okay, I've decided that I have to go back a little for you to fully understand. Maybe all the way back to last month, when this all began. I'd been a vampire for seven days. I'd transitioned the normal way; with a blood bag from the Salvatore's basement, and since then was feeding in moderation, socializing with the rest of Mystic Falls, and I even donated some of my blood to Meredith at the hospital. Nothing had changed from my time as human…_

She then began to condense the last few weeks onto the paper, explaining about what happened at Jeremy's birthday party, how the stake was stolen, the trip to Memphis, seeing Ash, his story about his mother died, the uncanny similarities to her own parents' deaths, everything. When she was finished retelling, she continued on to relay last night.

_How could I have been so stupid, diary? I've never let anger get to me before, but that was when I was human. Seems so long ago now. My amplified vampire emotions caused me to hurt an innocent girl tonight, and somebody else very important to me. Where is the old Elena Gilbert? I feel like a total new person, and I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. _

With a sigh, she shut the book, tucked it back into her knapsack, and left the hotel room, leaving behind her unhappy memory of it. She felt slightly better having written down the thoughts that plagued her for the last twelve hours, but she didn't know how long it would be affective.

* * *

Ashton walked down the sidewalk and stopped when he reached the door to Charlotte's. Ducking under the cover of the awning, he pulled out his cell phone.

He spoke before the voice on the other line could say anything.

"They're here, in town," he said quietly. "Elena Gilbert and Damon Salvatore. They walked into the bar and stayed for a few drinks."

The other person replied for quite a long moment, and Ash nodded along, complacently.

He ended the conversation with, "I will," and flipped the phone shut. As he slipped it back into his pocket, he caught sight of a black line peeking out from underneath his sleeve. He pulled it all the way up to stare proudly at his intricate tattoo, vines crawling around the square with the x inside.

**AU: Yep! Chapter four ^^^! I particularly like this chapter as I've told you already, but that's just me! If you liked it too, here is the synopsis for chapter 5:**

_**CAR TROUBLES-Damon helps Elena come to a new understanding about being a vampire in an unusually exciting way and together the both of them lead off in a new direction to solve the puzzle. Bonnie gets put in an uncomfortable situation, which makes her rethink the decisions she has made in the past and forces her to make new ones.**_


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Just a little warning to you, this chapter and the next are slightly, slightly (****slightly****) inappropriate. I'm going to say T+ or M for sexuality and of course language. So if you want, just skip the third to last section, thanks!**

**Disclaimer: All rights go to Julie Plec and CW!**

* * *

"Thanks again for the drinks last night, Ash," Elena said into the phone. "It was really great seeing you again."

"Takes you back to junior high, doesn't it?" he replied.

She laughed. "Minus the evil teachers and the homework."

"Hey, we never did that homework anyway. By the way, your friend seemed cool. Damon, is it?"

"Yes. He's actually pretty great."

"So I guess we should get together some other time and catch up."

"That's sounds nice, Ash. See you later." She hung up the phone, put it in her pocket and turned around.

Elena opened the trunk so that Damon could drop in the heavy bags. For a moment, she was grateful for the fact that both of them had decided to pack for a long trip before they searched Klaus's house, preparing for all possibilities. But it didn't really matter anymore; they were leaving for home already.

The hotel loomed above them, the last piece of their trip to Memphis that she would remember. When she would go on vacation with her family as a kid, leaving behind the memories was always the hardest part. It was nice to see that that was still the same, in some way.

Damon's face was hollow as he loaded the last of the bags, took her carry-on from her shoulders, and shut the trunk. But neither of them moved. Instead, he rested his palms against the surface of the car, his body tense, lips pursed.

Elena stood still as a statue, and she felt like one. Stone cold, empty, fragile…

"I'm just going to ask you one question," he said softly.

No, she wasn't ready to answer him, no matter what he wanted to know. Because she didn't know how she felt herself. But she would do whatever it took for him to forgive her. So she just nodded.

He hesitated. "Have _I _ever done that to you?" The question came out in bits, one word at a time, all the while he had a pleading gaze in his eyes.

"Done what?"

"You know," he murmured. "Have I ever hurt you like that?"

It took a moment for his words to register in her mind, but her first reaction was to remember the night he asked her a different question, one with the same willful hope as to what the answer would be. And then she understood why he seemed so worried.

_Like that_, he had said. So he meant to ask if he had ever hurt her like she was last night, when Stefan had called her and made her so upset that she was seeing red. Damon was worried that he had ever done the same. He hadn't been thinking about how she led him on to think she was feeding with him because they both wanted her to. That was what _she_ was worrying about. But that wasn't the case at all.

Damon was still waiting for an answer, and Elena realized that she needed to be careful with the way she responded. She knew he wanted the truth, no messing around.

"You don't have to worry about that," she told him, her voice low and hoarse.

He looked away from her and off into the wide landscape of hills that was set behind the hotel. With his eyes fixed on something other than her, it was easier for Elena to organize her thoughts.

"So you aren't mad at me?" she asked. "Is that what this morning and all afternoon was about, that you were afraid that I was acting out of anger because of _you_, not that I wasn't…thinking about you while we were drinking human blood together."

"Why would you think I give a damn about that?"

Relief washed through Elena, but she didn't let it show. The only puzzlement left over the matter was why she cared if Damon was sore with her in the first place. "I don't know, Damon. Why should you care if you made me upset? You've never felt bad about it before."

"Because I'm _pissed_ at him, Elena. Because he hurt you. I saw your face last night when you realized that he'd made you do something against your will. _He_ is the one I'm mad at!" he exclaimed, angrily.

Why hadn't Elena looked at it from that angle? Was it so hard to believe that he cared about the way she was feeling last night? She must have been so preoccupied worrying about if he hated her that she hadn't even noticed the amount of despair she was putting off. The fact that this whole time he only cared about her was more than just relieving, it was flattering.

She scratched her nose awkwardly. "Whoa," what was there to say? "I had no idea…thank you."

"Well? Aren't you going to lecture me on how Stefan is the last family I have and that I should appreciate him and not put a wrought iron poker in his stomach?" he asked, dubiously.

Elena thought for a second and then decided. "No," she said simply. "Not this time."

"Huh." Damon looked out over the hills again. Then an idea sparked in his eyes. He smiled excitedly, reached into one of his duffel bags on the top of the pile in the trunk, and pulled out a surprisingly unopened clear bottle of scotch. Elena wondered if he ever didn't bring alcohol with him wherever he went. "I guess this calls for a celebration."

* * *

Bonnie stared wonderingly at Jamie, who was sitting on her couch with his foot tapping quickly, from where he couldn't see her in the kitchen. She couldn't believe he'd come to talk to her after this long of not contacting her. In fact, it made her sort of angry at him. He'd had her thinking for months after she kissed him that he'd forgotten about her and moved on. Of course many girls at his school would bend over backwards to go out with him. She had just assumed he'd gone for a girl who didn't put his life in danger on a daily basis.

Her anger began to subside as she remembered how horribly wrong last year's Decade Dance had gone.

She came back to reality when the full coffee mugs she was holding started to grow a little too warm in her hands. So with burning palms and partial curiosity, she went back in, placed the drinks on the coffee table and sank next to him on the couch.

"Thanks," he murmured, taking a small sip of his coffee yet putting it down farther away from him than it had been. "Listen, I've been meaning to talk to you, but I was afraid of what you would say."

"I've wanted to talk to you too and apologize for that night at the dance. You were threatened by Klaus because I wasn't doing what he wanted and you still stayed with me when I was upset, so thank you," she said. It felt good to get that out in the open so the matter wouldn't be avoided.

"Nah, I didn't mind it," he waved her off. "Actually, uh-I miss spending time with you, Bonnie."

"Really? Even after you've seen what my life is like, you still want to be a part of that?"

"If you'll let me," he said softly, his bright eyes suddenly focused on hers.

"Why wouldn't I?"

He chuckled as if it were obvious. "I would have thought someone as amazing as you would never date a guy like me. You'd want to be with others like you."

"Trust me," she assured him. "After everything that's happened, at the end of day I don't need anymore supernatural drama. I'd rather just hang out like a normal person."

"Well you're in luck, because I major in normal," he teased.

She laughed. "So you want to start over? Maybe we can stay in and watch a movie together."

"I'd like that."

Bonnie reached for the remote, and Jamie surprised her by wrapping his arm around her shoulders and pulling her close. At first, she was hesitant, but then she realized how warm it was against his side and snuggled in comfortably.

But no sooner as they were settled in did someone knock on the front door. She sighed and went to answer it.

The first time she'd opened that door today she had been taken aback in shock. This second time was no different except that it wasn't shock that made her stutter and blink, it was alarm.

"Jeremy," she breathed, putting on a smile.

"Hey," he slurred, and held up what he was holding. "I just stopped by to bring back your cigarette lighter."

"I actually don't remember giving you that," she told him.

"Right, well, it was kind of two months ago…" he phased off. Then a nervous smile and a bright blush filled his face and he laughed. "Okay, listen. I didn't come here to return the cigarette lighter. I actually came here to talk to you."

"Talk" she repeated, warily. "Talk about what?"

"About last night. I think I felt something."

Bonnie blinked in wonderment. She hadn't dated Jeremy in what, a year? Close to it, probably. That old romance was buried deep, deep down inside her. Of course, she still loved Jeremy, but as a friend, as Elena's little brother. Maybe there had been a small stirring of something when he left for Denver, and again when she stopped his heart to desiccate Klaus and he almost died. But could that count?

Besides, she thought to herself, Jamie was waiting in the other room. He was ready to start things up again with her. And that was what Bonnie wanted. She wanted a normal guy, someone who wouldn't break her heart like Jeremy had.

"Can we talk about this some other time?" she asked. "I'm a little busy right now."

"Oh. Okay, some other time then." Jeremy looked down to the ground like a tortured little puppy dog and turned to walk away. He wasn't putting on an act intentionally to guilt Bonnie. She knew this from when they were going out. Jeremy didn't show emotions like sadness in front of other people. He wanted to appear strong.

So whatever he was feeling now was strong enough for her to see it plain as day.

"Wait, Jeremy," she burst before she could stop herself. "Do you want to watch a movie?"

* * *

"Oh gosh, this is so beautiful," Elena gasped, though it really wasn't much. She was staring out to the dark streets of Memphis, where the roads shined with the wetness of a past rain, steam rose from the cracks in sewer covers, wind blew bitingly against her cheeks, and the only lights came form the lamp posts and the windows of the tall buildings.

"This isn't it, silly," Damon rolled his eyes at her, as he continued to lead her down the empty sidewalk, passing building after building until they reached a large intersection. Elena wasn't used to seeing these with so few cars. But then again, it was almost two in the morning. "This is."

Then she caught sight of the building across the road from them, the one Damon was staring directly at, and her jaw fell open. It was different from the other structures, because it was just a wide as it was tall, and it was very tall. Older and more antique looking, with hundreds of glowing orange windows, it was the Peabody hotel.

"Wow," she managed to say. "This is the Peabody hotel. I've only ever seen this once on a road trip with Jeremy and my parents. It was my favorite part of the whole vacation. I told myself that one of these days I'd get to go inside of it."

He smiled down at her authentically. "Well, you won't see the inside of it. But you will see the top."

"What do you m—" But then she couldn't speak, because suddenly the brisk air was whipping past her in a frenzy of wind. With one scoop he had taken her and the bottle into his arms and jumped up as high as he could. And in the next moment, they were on the roof.

She blinked quickly, trying to get a read on her surroundings. Vampire senses didn't appreciate such hasty movements like these when done by another vampire. But what she saw around her was so beautiful; it made her heart jump in her chest.

The roof itself was just a flat asphalt surface with a few quietly whirring machines in the far corner. But the view from where she and Damon stood at the edge was absolutely breathtaking. Elena wasn't quite sure just how high up they were, but it was definitely more than two hundred feet. And that was surely enough to be able to see miles ahead, the landscape filled with the picturesque city lights and millions of stars.

Elena's eyes stung, and a tear welled up in her eye.

"I don't know what to say, Damon," she murmured.

"Then don't say anything. Just come sit down."

He then sank down onto the ledge and hung his feet over the empty air. Elena sat next to him as he uncorked the bottle of scotch, took a sip, and offered it to her.

Her sip was small; she didn't want anything blurring her vision of this scenery. "Did you use to do this a lot in the eighties?"

"Eighties?" he retorted. "I've been doing this for fifty years. Never gets old."

"I didn't realize you lived in Memphis for so long."

Damon laughed at her. "Nah, any tall structure works if you want to clear your head. I found it a great way to think. Used to be how I spent my alone time."

"Used to be?"

He glanced at her, his smile seductive and his eyes bright.

She laughed to break up the moment of silence that followed. There usually was nothing to say when he snuck in his little hidden messages like this one. Besides, she was blushing too much too get a word out anyway. So instead, she took a second mock sip of scotch.

"I think I could get used to being a vampire," she finally said.

"Really?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, from what happened last night, I was under the impression that you weren't getting along with it that great. But if you say so…"

Elena glared at him. "Are you trying to get me to move backwards?" He didn't answer, so she softened her tone. "I really hope not, because you've been helping me get through it and I don't want to go on unless you're there by my side."

She didn't regret saying it like she usually did, because it was absolutely true. Ever since her transition she had had an undeniable craving for human blood, which only got worse on Stefan's animal diet. Not that she wasn't grateful for Stefan and the animal blood, because it did keep her full enough not to eat any of the townspeople, but she still needed just a taste. It was better to embrace it then suppress it.

Damon's eyes thawed into a warmer blue than usual, and his cheeks puffed into a smile. "I'm here, aren't I?"

That was true. He was here, he was being supportive, and he wasn't judging her. Stefan was. Sooner or later, Elena would call him again and try to forgive him. They were stronger than this. Weren't they?

"And," he continued, his tone lighter. "I think you're going to be a great vampire."

This made her heart flutter faster inside her chest. These days, Elena felt so emotional, like any little sentiment would bring her over the top. But this wasn't just an over amount of sensitivity, this was just a really sweet thing to say.

"Thanks to you. I think you're a better vampire than I will ever be, Damon."

For a second, Elena thought she had slipped and fallen off the side of the building, because all of a sudden there was no roof beneath her and there was this exhilarating sensation in her stomach. But she hadn't slipped. She was still up on the roof next to Damon, who was looking at her in such a way that she felt like she was falling into an ice blue abyss.

Her entire body went numb, but it wasn't from the cold. The starry night wrapped around her like a blanket of dizzying bliss. All she could see was Damon's eyes. Sometime in this spellbound moment, her hands had been folded in his and their foreheads pressed together.

She had never had stares like these with Stefan. Sure, their relationship was more romantic than it was with Damon, but she had never found herself caught up in his eyes. Of course, she shouldn't even be thinking of Stefan right now, not with what was happening. So she shut down her mind. Her circulating thoughts came to halt.

As a result, the bottle of scotch slipped from her fingers and clanked against the cement roof. It was a loud, sharp noise that broke Damon from his gaze and he yanked himself backwards. Elena was left blinking in shock.

He shook his head quickly and reached to pick up the bottle.

"To friendship," he toasted, and took a much too long drink.

She smiled and nodded, unenthusiastically. "To…friendship."

* * *

Bonnie blew out a gust of air that made a strand of her dark hair fly.

She was sitting on the couch with a bowl of popcorn on her lap. Jamie sat on her right side, lifting a handful of popcorn to his mouth. His eyes were intent on the movie they were watching, some sort of romantic comedy that she really couldn't remember the name of anymore. Occasionally, he would glance over to make sure she was still there, and smile.

Jeremy sat on her left, his thigh in very close proximity to hers. He was the only one of them actually laughing at the jokes the movie made. He had seemed almost too easily persuaded when Bonnie told him they would all three be watching the video together. It worried Bonnie. What was going on in his mind?

But the worst part of it all was that she was the only one in this situation who was uncomfortable. How had that happened?

* * *

"You want the heater turned up?" Damon murmured, sullenly.

They had been driving for almost ten minutes now, but the silence made it feel like hours. Neither of them seemed to want to talk about what happened up on the roof, and that was fine with Elena. She needed time to think it through before she could make any type of judgment call.

"No, I'm good." She didn't really like the uncomfortable tension though. But it felt like that was always the case between them these days.

On the other hand, she knew that in less than twelve hours she would be back home, and she would be able to see Jeremy and her friends.

But then a horrible cacophony of noises that all together sounded like the ripping and tearing of metal interrupted her thoughts, and it was coming from underneath the car.

"What the hell is that?" Damon demanded, easing up on the gas pedal. The noise continued in the same volume.

"Did something get caught under there?"

He shrugged and tried to turn the car onto the shoulder of the road, but the wheel and the brakes were stuck.

Then, before either of them could even begin to guess what was going on, the unthinkable happened. Just like all accidents, it happened in a flash. Their speed increased by about forty miles per hour, Elena blinked, and all of a sudden, the back two wheels of the car lifted up almost vertically. The vehicle danced on its front as it was still speeding forward on the road until the balancing act was over and it toppled onto its back. After that, they rolled about three times into the grass, putting them right side up again.

Throughout the entire experience, Elena was in shock. She felt every bump and crash in her bones and she knew that there was damage.

Once they were still, there was a small spark from under the hood of the car. As expected, it was probably a part of the engine dying out.

Elena realized it was finally over and looked down to assess her situation. It was hard to look at. Her legs were smashed through the dashboard and no matter how hard she pulled, she couldn't get them out. The window had shattered leaving shards of glass pierced everywhere in her body. But the most prominent pain was the pounding in her face, where she must have slammed it against something hard.

It was a long time before Elena finally heard Damon's voice, slowly fading in like the volume on a television.

"Are you okay…Elena…Elena, what's going on…. can you hear me?" he kept insisting in a strained voice.

It was odd, but a part of her brain seemed to be much more aware than usual, which is how she was able to understand how embarrassing it was that the only sound she could make was a low whimpering in the back of her throat.

Damon tore off his seatbelt, jumped out of the misshapen car, and flashed over to the passenger side. As he knelt beside her, she noticed he was already healed, down to the very cuts and scrapes.

So why wasn't she?

"I'm stuck," she managed to get out of her thick throat.

He watched her motion to her legs and he made a small choked sound when he saw how mangled they were. He helped her tear her legs, rather painfully, from the smashed dashboard and lifted her completely out of the car.

The much too over aware portion of her brain felt a sense of déjà vu, beneath the blinding pain, remembering the night a long time ago when Damon helped her from her car, which had been turned upside down, and took her with him to Georgia. But even then, when she was a vulnerable human, she wasn't as badly injured.

He looked into her eyes, his arms still around her waist, supporting her, and asked her if she could speak. She nodded, feeling like a child.

"Well it'd be nice if you could answer me instead," he laughed, shakily.

"S-sorry," she stuttered. "Why aren't I healing?"

Damon's forehead creased. "I don't know. I thought I'd give it some time but…wait. Your doppelganger blood."

"Yeah, s-so?"

"Well if it can't heal others, it sure as hell won't heal you," he explained. "You actually look worse than you did before. Don't know how that happened."

Of course he was right. It made so much sense, but she didn't understand why she had never made the connection before. Vampire blood heals humans.

Vampires heal quickly. If she couldn't heal others, did that mean she wouldn't heal at all?

"So what do we do? We have to do something. Damon, it really hurts."

"I know, I know…" he paused for a moment. Then he made a face as if the answer was obvious all along. "Here."

He freed one of his arms, pulled down the sleeve of his jacket, and bit into his wrist. Her mouth was ready to receive the blood as soon as she realized what he was doing. His smile was slightly amused as she sucked on his arm eagerly.

The warm fluids instantly made her feel better as they filled her veins. Soon enough, she felt her bones move back into place and reconnect. The gashes, cuts, and bruises all faded into flush skin. The awful pain that made her feel like her face had caved in subsided immediately.

She didn't even realize just how much blood she'd taken until he gently pulled his arm away from her lips.

"Got enough there?" he asked, and she could hear the tiredness in his voice that he was trying to hide.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I took too much, didn't I?"

He shook it off. "Don't worry, you needed it."

"But not that much. And you look weak. And you're probably used to drinking blood yourself to balance," she chided, watching him bow his head and droop his eyelids. He would never admit that he was feeling weak, so she had to pull it out of him. Instead, she thought of something she could do. "Have some of _my _blood, Damon."

"No, no way."

"Please, I insist."

"Elena," he said seriously. "Two seconds ago you were on your deathbed. I'm not taking any of your blood. It is just dizziness. I'll live."

She held up her wrist, close to his nose so he could easily smell the faint whiff of her blood. "Yeah, but I'm fine now. Too fine, in fact. It won't hurt me a bit. I'm probably the equivalent of human blood, anyway. Please, take some."

He stared down at her wrist, lips pursed, shifting from side to side. She knew he didn't want to take the blood, but it was obvious that he needed it. Very reluctantly, he put his hand around her elbow, but didn't take a drink.

"You know, you get better access from the neck," he mumbled. "I can get more in a faster time."

He waited for the consent in her eyes, then eagerly threw down her arm, gripped her from both elbows, and leaned in like he was going to kiss her, but last second he ducked under her hair to bite her neck.

It was amazing, the difference it made in sensations now that the blood wasn't forcefully being taken. That was all she knew. Klaus in the sacrifice, Stefan being compelled to bite her in the school cafeteria. But this was a mutual agreement. This time,_ she_ was offering the blood to _him_.

And it felt right, not scary. She trusted him. As expected, he unhooked his fangs in a matter of moments.

"You're better at this than me," she murmured, pressing her fingers to the puncture wounds. He helped her by dabbing at it with his sleeve. She smiled, gratefully. "Cleaner. More professional."

He chuckled. "Yeah right."

"So are we going to talk about what happened with the car there?"

Damon glanced behind her, as if her words made him remember what was going on, and stepped back in shock. "Um…what car?"

"What?" She whirled around to find that where the car used to be was just an empty spot of grass, left flattened in the same size and shape as Damon's convertible. So it had been there like they thought. They weren't going crazy, right?

"There it is," he said, suddenly, pointing with his thumb across the road to where the car sat, looking undamaged and brand new, and facing the direction that they came from. Faintly, Elena could hear the engine thrumming.

"Whoa," she mouthed. "What is going on?"

"Unless Firestone has a thirty minutes or less policy, I think this is our little friend at work."

"It can't be. All they've done is try to stop us. Why would they wreck our car, turn around and fix it so we could go wherever they're trying to take us?"

"Beats me. But we'll never know if we don't get in," he told her.

She shook her head wildly. "Absolutely not. Damon, we're going to get killed."

"Or find the stake," he countered. "But either way, I'm not going to stand here and reenact this scene from Transformers with you. Are you in or out?"

Here she was again, debating over whether she wanted to take a chance with him or not. He practically had his hand held out to her, waiting for her to grab on. Hadn't she just thought to herself how much she trusted him? So why not take the hand? If something were to happen, then at least she could say she took the opportunity for adventure. And if she was with him, how bad could it be?

She smirked and followed him to the car.

* * *

Bonnie waved to Jamie as he disappeared down the sidewalk. Once he was gone, she shut the door and turned around.

Jeremy was in the kitchen, a sauté pan sizzling in his hand, and a small towel thrown over his shoulder. Despite how tired Bonnie was, the picture was amusing to her and she smiled as she sank into one of the stools.

"Hey, hope you are hungry," he said, flipping a bottle of olive oil into the air and catching it. "Because I'm making my famous lemon chicken. Thought we could have a nice dinner together."

"So you're not still upset about Elena?"

He shrugged. "Before she left, I told her I trusted her, and I want to stick to that. Whatever it is she is doing in Memphis, I know it's important."

"Wow, you're being really mature about this," she complimented, impressed by his fairness.

"I'm glad you think so." She was silent after that, having decided that she wanted to watch him cook; it was sort of fascinating. How had she never known he liked cooking? Maybe it was a new interest of his. He chopped up some garlic, threw in about two bags of frozen chicken cutlets, and sprinkled in some crushed red pepper.

"Not too much pepper, though. My—"

"Tolerance for spices is humiliating," he finished, smugly. "Yeah, I remember from our first date."

Bonnie smiled. "Do you need some help finishing up?" she asked, as she went to stand behind the counter with him. "I could drain the noodles."

"Nah, that's tricky business. I'll handle the hot water, but you could get the bowls out if you want."

"Sure." She crossed the kitchen and pulled two ceramic pasta bowls from the cupboard, also plucking a couple of forks from the drawer beneath it. It was kind of nice, having him take care of the meal. She felt warm inside. This wasn't exactly a typical night with her father unless it involved take out and uncomfortable small talk. She was slightly glad he was out of town for the week, again.

They began filling up the bowls with food, working together to prevent spilling.

"Thank you," she said. "For the dinner. It was really sweet of you to stick around and keep me company."

"No problem. I know you don't like being alone when your dad's gone."

"Have you forgotten _anything_ since we went out?"

He smiled down at the counter as they finished up. "Have you?"

"Me? I forget everything," she teased.

"Oh." His smile faded, and Bonnie knew that wasn't the answer he was looking for. They hadn't been talking for even a few minutes and she had already disappointed him by saying the wrong thing. This was why Caroline and Elena were much better at the whole boy thing.

"I do remember…kissing. A lot," she laughed, trying to lift his frown. "You were a pretty good kisser."

"Really?"

"Yup. But I don't remember you being such the culinary artist. Where did this come from anyway?"

"I, well, I watch a lot of Food Network," he said.

She laughed, her cheekbones almost hurting from it, and he laughed with her. Maybe they were laughing too much, but who cares. He was here, they weren't fighting, and who knows, maybe they had spent enough time apart to miss being together. Too many _what if_ thoughts clouded her brain, all of which suddenly slipped through her ears when he looked up to see him staring down at her.

He hadn't looked at her in any way remotely close to this since they went out. She missed that. She missed the romantically loving way he would look at her and refer to her to others. It seemed so silly that the age difference had once been a problem. Sometimes Bonnie would forget he was younger than her, just by the way he would protect her and cradle her in comfort and safety.

Besides, if Elena and Damon never worry about an age difference, than neither should she.

So she forgot about it, just like she told Jeremy she would. She forgot about the last few months of being apart from him, the reasons why they broke up, how much he had hurt her. It was time to move on, turn the page.

This was a new chapter.

He placed both hands on either side of her face and kissed her, so lovingly it left her breathless for air. But she didn't mind. She tucked her arms in between his and gripped tightly above his shoulder blades.

At some point, Bonnie realized he had lifted her up onto the counter so she could reach him better. His hands moved to her back, running along the surface of her shirt. She let her fingers run along the front planes of his chest.

Their lips broke apart and he began kissing against the side of her throat, to her collarbone, and back up again. She wrapped her legs around his waist so she could pull herself closer, closer, as close to him as possible. It felt like even when every inch of her was pressed against him, it still wasn't enough. Maybe her fingers and nails were too tight on him, but he didn't complain.

She didn't like the separation his shirt made, so she yanked it off of him and threw it aside. Now she could feel his warm, smooth skin freely.

His lips found hers again, briefly roaming her face, but returning to her mouth each time. She twisted her fingers into his hair, her arms being fed into it as well till her elbows were past his shoulders. His own hands slipped underneath her thighs so he could lift her up from the counter and take them both to the floor.

And they began this new chapter, together.

* * *

Stefan sat in the boardinghouse, drumming his fingers against the leather arm of the couch, impatiently, his glances back and forth from the wall to his cell phone becoming more constant.

How come she hasn't called back already? After the argument they had already, he would have thought she would call him again to apologize. He had been waiting a whole day for her to call. Why was she making him wait so long? Was she _trying_ to keep him on the edge of his seat? No, that wasn't Elena's style.

Maybe he would throw in one or two of his own apologies, just to calm her down and ease her up. But for the most part, he had nothing to say sorry for. All he had done was be a concerned boyfriend, who wanted to know where she was and who with. What was wrong with that?

The long hand on the grandfather clock ticked to the twelve and Stefan listened to four long dings.

That was it. He wasn't waiting any longer. If Elena were going to call, she would have done it already. Angrily, he clenched the phone in his fist and threw it at a stained glass window, shattering the colorful panes.

"Not a morning person I see," said a purring voice from behind him.

Stefan whirled around to find Katherine, standing tall and feline in her open-toed pumps and leather skirt, leaning against a wooden pillar on a raised portion of the parlor. Her arms were folded across her chest, a sickeningly sweet smile on her face.

"What do you want, Katherine?" he sighed.

"Just to check in on old acquaintances," she told him, then threw down her arms in defeat. "Alright, you caught me. You know me better than to believe my…evil lies."

"So you'll tell me why you're here then?"

She slowly walked towards him and put her finger against his chest.

"Maybe. But what kind of host would you be if you didn't start me off with some drinks?"

* * *

"This is…" Elena searched for the word. "Weird. Very weird."

The steering wheel was turning on its own, the gas and brake working as if there were some kind of invisible foot controlling them. Every turn was made without the driver. Elena was even impressed at how well the car slowed with the speed limit.

Damon glanced at her, his hands in his lap even though they were speeding down the freeway. "Tell me about it. I wonder if it'll let me turn on the radio."

She rolled her eyes. "How can you make jokes when some sort of _thing _is taking us to God knows where?" Her mind roved over every possibility. "We could be about to drive off a bridge for all we know."

"Stop being paranoid," he chided. "Besides, what are the chances that that will happen to you three different times?"

She sighed, giving up, and rested her head against her seat. She had to admit that he was right. Elena had already decided to go with the flow and not worry about what was going on. But how was he being so calm? Maybe it would help her to take a page from his book and just chill out, as Jeremy would say.

At some point, Elena drifted off to sleep. When she woke up, the sky was a clean peach from the sun that was just poking out of the tree line, and Damon was shaking her shoulder.

"Elena, wake up," he whispered. "Something's different."

She squinted up out the dewdrop-covered windshield to see something _was_ different. The car stopped as it approached a wide building, made completely of brick, looking older than any of the buildings back in Mystic Falls. Its back was almost touching a line of trees, as thick as a forest. Completely windowless, there was only one sign above, but it didn't have any words on it, just a picture. Two angels were kissing each other.

"Another bar?" she groaned.

"At least it's not the bottom of a bridge," he murmured, not really paying attention. As soon as the car's engine was cut off, he was out of his seat, throwing himself inside the building.

Elena hurriedly yanked off her seatbelt and followed him, wondering what had made him so jumpy.

Once she was in, she immediately slammed into his back, but he didn't notice. He stared at the room before him, and Elena did the same.

It wasn't really a bar, but more of a nightclub. The main piece that all the furniture was directed around was the dance floor, where tall and limber people were swaying to the pulse of the music. It was nothing like Charlotte's. This place was much older, dirtier, and left-to-die than that bar.

Which made Elena wonder, was there even a bar here?

As she looked around, she saw that there wasn't a single alcoholic beverage in sight, not even beer. But the people here seemed so overly excited, and almost all of them were carrying translucent cups with a dark red fluid inside.

"Where are we?" she whispered to Damon, his muscles tense.

As she spoke, another man stumbled into the club behind them. He was short, dark-haired, wearing a suit and a pair of thick glasses, but he also smelled differently to Elena then the others did. As soon as he was in, everyone in the room turned to look at him.

Only a few jumped forward. Elena watched in horror as an attractive couple and a Hispanic woman grabbed the man by his head and sank their teeth into different parts of his body, their eyes half crazy with hunger.

And all of a sudden, the picture made sense. This was why the club was so out of the way and in the middle of nowhere. This was why there were no drinks in the entire place. The pieces clicked together in her head like a puzzle. The sign outside, it wasn't two angels kissing. It was one angel, feeding on the other wingless creature.

Damon put his hands on Elena's shoulders and pulled her back a little.

"We're in vampire country," he whispered into her ear.

**AN: Wow, I've gotten some really nice reviews so keep it up everybody! And remember, next chapter is T+ or M rated, kind of like this one, so be warned! Hope this chapter didn't disappoint! So without further ado, the synopsis for chapter six is here:**

_**STRANGERS LIKE ME-Elena shows Damon and the other vampires that there are other ways to live as a vampire and changes the way Damon sees her. Bonnie finds that her and Jeremy are in two different places in their relationship, and Jeremy tells her something that will stun her. Finally, Stefan uncovers a secret from a surprising source.**_


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Hey guys, great to see you again…ha ha sorry I haven't updated in a while. I've been watching every Harry Potter film in order and it's been taking up a lot of my free time! But I'm here now with chapter 6! Enjoy, and please review!**

**All rights go to Julie Plec and CW! I own nothing!**

* * *

Katherine ran her finger along the dusty binds in the bookshelf. Not one of the titles really interested her, except for one. She pulled out a smaller red book just as Stefan walked in with two glasses of brandy in hand.

"You know, I actually figured snooping was above you, Katherine," he sneered, handing her the other drink.

"Snooping is for children. I'm merely revisiting what's mine," she murmured, and held up the photo she pulled from within the book's pages. "Like this picture, kept in your favorite book, _A Tale of Two Cities."_

Stefan pursed his lips at the black and white photograph in her hand with regret and disgust, but mostly agitation. She was avoiding the elephant in the room: why was she in Mystic Falls? He needed to know, and he wouldn't fall for her distractions until she told him. "Why don't we just cut to the chase, Katherine? Why are you here?"

"What are you talking about?"

"We both know every time you reappear in this town you have some sort of secret agenda that we don't know about till half of us are traded in sacrifice for your freedom or something along those lines. This time, I don't want to wait till it's too late to figure out what you're up to. So just spill before this gets ugly."

"Where's Damon?" she asked suddenly. "At least he will humor me."

He didn't answer.

She smiled brightly. "Oh, he's with Elena, isn't he? Poor Stefan. So used to getting the girl. How does it feel, seeing the one you love with someone else? Where are they exactly?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"Can't I just have sympathy for an old friend?" She threw her bottom lip out in an innocent pout.

He stared at that expression, knowing there was nothing innocent about it at all. Why was she trying to distract him with what she knew would work on him? Surely Damon and Elena weren't part of her vendetta? If Elena would ever call him, maybe he would be able to warn them. But until then, he was going to try his best to pull the truth out of Katherine, piece by piece.

* * *

"I can't believe this place is actually real," Elena bounced. "Are you sure this is safe, Damon?"

"Why wouldn't it be?" he replied. "You're a vampire now, Elena, remember? "These people," he motioned to the crowd of dancing vampires, "are just like you. Maybe a little exposure to the right group will help you."

She watched one of the vampires feed on a middle-aged woman with light brown hair covering slight gray. She imagined this woman, deciding whether she wanted to dye her hair herself or make an appointment. She would call a friend to ask her opinion, and after she was done, maybe take her daughter shopping for new school clothes.

This woman had a life with a family who cared about her, but now her body was lifeless as the vampire dropped her to the floor.

Elena thought about what Damon just said, that these vampires were just like her. But they weren't, and she didn't want them to be. Not if it meant draining the blood from helpless humans, something she had been herself not that long ago.

"I don't know about that," she said softly. "The only _people _here are being slaughtered in scores."

"Nobody's dying, Elena, just coming very close to it."

"That doesn't make me feel different about them. I don't even understand the purpose of vampire country in the first place."

He slipped his arm around her shoulder and leaned into her ear. "The purpose? Not one of these vampires can hunt worth a crap. So instead, they come here, where the food is practically catered to them."

She cringed and shrugged out from under his arm.

"Tried this myself once or twice over the years," he continued. "But it wasn't my style. Too easy. I'm not a blood slut. I have my dignity."

"You and I have two different definitions of dignity." Nothing about this place seemed right to her. But maybe she was looking at it from the wrong perspective. What would her transition have been like if she didn't have Stefan, Damon, and Caroline? She would have been scared and alone, but in a place like this she wouldn't have to be alone. Other vampires could teach her the ways, but these ways were wrong. No matter what, she would do her best to stand for what was right.

Damon looked over at her and saw how pale she was. He should have known she wouldn't become comfortable in here right away. He sighed.

"Elena, do you want to leave?"

She shook her head. "Whoever brought us here has to be the same guy who stole the stake, blew up the Grill, and has been following us since then. If it isn't and they are all different people then…we're screwed. But if it is, then there's something here for us," she trailed off when she realized she had begun pacing and her hands were shaking.

He pulled her jittery hands together, wrapping them inside of his. His eyes were dancing as he spoke. "Maybe you should step out, Elena."

"You're right. I need to call Bonnie, anyway."

"There you go. Get some fresh air, calm down, and remember, _this_ is what is natural for us." He released her from his grip and watched her eagerly escape the building.

* * *

Bonnie's phone buzzed from beside her.

She opened her eyes. She was laying on the kitchen floor, wrapped in the white sheets from her bed, her skin hot and sweaty. Jeremy was still sleeping in the space next to her, and his hand was in hers. Slowly so as to not wake him up, she slipped her fingers free and reached over to grab her phone.

"Elena?" she whispered.

Jeremy stirred a little, mumbling something incoherent. Instead of interrupting his snoring, Bonnie grabbed one of the sheets, wrapped it around her like a bath towel, and went into her bedroom to take the call.

"Hey, are you okay? Is something wrong?" she asked, immediately.

"No," Elena answered. "At least, not really."

"Your voice sounds strange. What happened?"

Bonnie heard her take a deep breath. "Well, we were on our way home when something turned us around and led us here. And now we're here at this old _vampire sanctuary _place on the corner of nowhere and anywhere, and I'm scared out of my pants because it's basically a feeding frenzy and human blood is the main meal."

"Then it's a good thing Stefan's taught you how to feed on animals, right?"

She sighed. "I guess. I'm just worried because that very hungry part of me is still young and exposed. I'm practically a baby."

"And it's not like Damon is going to be of that much help in the self-control department," Bonnie complained. "I mean if you're a baby, then hypothetically, he'll be trying his hardest to spoon-feed the blood into you."

"He just wants what's best for me, Bonnie, he really does."

She bit her lip, deliberating the seriousness of Elena's tone, and then finally rolled her eyes. "Fine, I believe you. But you might want to rehearse that better for Caroline. She's not exactly Damon's biggest fan."

"Tell me about it," she laughed. "So what's going on at home? Anymore bombing incidents?"

"No, thankfully. The Grill still remains to be the only attack so far. But we did run into sort of a snag the other night."

"What kind of a snag?"

Bonnie paced to the window. "I was trying a new spell, one that could find where Klaus is and give him a message about the stake being stolen, but I couldn't finish it because guess who interfered."

"Klaus interfered with a _spell_? How can he do that?" she demanded.

"I have no clue. But he seemed angry, and he told me to stop trying to look for him."

"Well, will you?"

"Not likely."

"Bonnie," Elena chided. "This could be dangerous. If Klaus wants something, he gets it, remember?"

She nodded to herself. "Right, I'll be careful if you will. Don't give in to those vampires, Elena. Remember who you are, because you are not that person."

"Will do. See you later, Bon."

Bonnie hung up the phone and gazed out the window for a few moments. She wasn't worried about Elena, not anymore. What Jeremy had said about trusting her was clearly the right thing to do, and so inspiring. Besides, Elena was a big girl; she could handle this on her own.

"Bonnie?" she heard Jeremy call from the kitchen. She smiled and went back in, leaning against the doorframe.

"Morning, sunshine."

He smiled and sat up, his hair ruffled in a hundred different directions. "Was that Elena on the phone? What did she have to say?"

"That her and Damon won't be coming home for a bit longer," she sat next to him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "So that means you get a break."

"A break?"

"Yup. A vacation from the worrying, the scheming, the killing. For now, you are just a regular teenager," she explained.

He laughed, gripped her waist and tossed her up quickly so that, before she knew what was going on, she was below him on the makeshift bed. His weight was supported so she didn't feel a thing.

"Okay, I can live with that." He kissed her on the lips. "But I have one question."

She giggled. "Yeah?"

"Do you get to come on vacation with me?"

This time he kissed her longer, deeper, and she pulled one of the sheets up over the both of them, concealing them from the outside. So all that could be seen was white, and all that could be heard were the sounds of their muffled laughter.

* * *

Stefan took a sip of brandy, never taking his eyes off Katherine.

She sat across from him, in the red leather couch, staring back at him.

The fireplace crackled loudly, the only sound in the large and quiet room. Katherine's expression was bemused; obviously something about this game was funny to her. Probably because she had the answers that he wanted to know, and that made her feel superior. But he didn't care, because he had found a new technique.

"It's not polite to stare, Stefan," she purred.

He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "Actually, you're the one staring."

She squinted her eyes at him.

"What's wrong, Katherine? Afraid I've stopped caring about your little endeavors? Afraid my attention's elsewhere?"

"Is that what you think I came here for?" she scoffed. "Attention? Stefan, I'm not a twelve-year-old girl. I don't pull stunts for an audience."

"Then why are you here, drinking my alcohol? It's obvious you wanted me to know you were back in town because putting on a show is half the fun of the game."

"And we're back to the games," she laughed, lightly, though her eyes looked offended. "Just like old times."

He shook his head, deciding that he wasn't going to get any information out of her, and leaned back into his chair. It was just useless trying to decipher Katherine. She was the most closed book he had ever met. Elena was so much easier to read. It was amazing how two girls who look so alike could be so different.

Katherine watched him resign into his chair, and crossed her arms. "You want to know why I came to you? It's because I needed you."

His eyes sparked interest. "Needed me? Needed me for what?"

She said nothing.

"That's what I thought." He sighed heavily, and got up to walk away. It really was no use.

"Wait." She used her vampire speed to flash in front of him, stopping him. "

"Katherine, I've tried talking to you when there's really no point. So unless you're going to spill what you know, why don't you just get the hell out of my way, 'kay?"

"It's funny, isn't it?" she murmured, her voice sultry. "I need your help, and you need the information. It's a bit of an impasse, Stefan. You need something, I need something, you need something, _I_ need something…."

His eyes flickered to her lips. "You want to trade me, don't you?"

"Uh-huh. And I _always _deliver," she cooed.

He stared into her eyes, weighing his options.

* * *

Elena pushed through the crowd of vampires, searching for Damon's familiar dark head. Finally, she spotted him, leaning over, fang-deep in a short blonde woman.

"Damon," she shouted over the noise of the music. "Really?"

He straightened up, wiped the back of his hand over his mouth, and looked the girl in the eye. "Go far away and forget this place," he murmured, and then turned to Elena.

"Some friend you are. What's the point of me not feeding on these people if you're just going to eat more than your share?" she demanded.

"Just because you're going cold turkey doesn't mean the rest of us have to suffer," he declared, stubbornly. "Besides, this whole _road less traveled _business is fun for a moment until that overwhelming hunger sets in and the temptation becomes too much to resist. You'll slip eventually."

"I'm not an idiot, Damon; I don't plan on starving myself. There's a forest behind the building with plenty of wildlife. Sorry, I know you were probably looking forward to watching me slip."

He smirked to himself. "Actually, I think seeing you hunt might be more entertaining. Come on. Let's go, I'll walk you out there."

They went outside, to the back of the building where the smell of the dumpster was overwhelming. Damon followed Elena as she strode into the trees and entered the thick vegetation.

He folded his arms and leaned against one of the tree trunks. "Go on then. I'm waiting."

She rolled her eyes at him, removed her jacket, and tossed it his way. "You're making me nervous. I might mess up."

"What's there to it, Elena? You snatch a bunny, bite his neck, and then release. How hard can it be?"

"Stefan's been teaching me the proper way to hunt the animals. He said it's easier if you concentrate on what you're doing or you might end up taking too much blood and killing it."

"And that would be the end of the world, how?" he asked her.

"Shh." Elena faced away from him and closed her eyes. The breeze picked up, pulling a little on her hair and sending a faint smell to her nose. Digging through her brain, she remembered which animal matched with this particular scent. It was a deer, probably fifty yards ahead of her. Deer don't often travel alone, so more mustn't be far away. But she only needed one, for now.

Just like Stefan instructed, she disconnected her brain from her body and acted purely on instinct. She took off into the woods, her feet moving so fast they became a blur. The smell of running, pulsing blood grew closer and closer till the animal was within touching distance, but it didn't see her yet. He was completely unaware of her presence until she pounced.

There was only a small window of time for her to manage a full grip on him, so she wrapped both arms around his chest and brought him to the ground. Being gentle yet firm, Elena bit into his neck, right at the jugular. This position allowed the blood to flow directly into her mouth without spilling.

Despite the rather unsavory taste, the blood satisfied her hunger and seemed to relax her. Having such a temperamental stomach was becoming a bit of a pain to her. She didn't want to have to worry about snapping at anyone at anytime just because she needed to feed.

As soon as she had had enough, she released the animal and watched it lope back into the bushes, disappearing from sight.

Two hands began slowly clapping from behind and it startled her. She whirled around.

Damon had an odd smile on his face as he applauded her. "That…well, let's just say that wasn't what I expected."

"Gee, thanks."

"How do you know that was a compliment?" he questioned.

She smiled at him, mischievously. "Because, like always, I know your expectations were probably very low."

"And yet, uncharacteristically, I'm the worst at limbo," he remarked.

Elena laughed, glad to be temporarily rid of her hunger, and stepped through the grass in the direction of the vampire building. As she passed Damon, he lifted a finger and wiped away a few drops of blood left on her chin.

She looked up to see his eyes intent on her face. "Thank you."

"Anytime."

Just then, a group of footsteps rustled behind them and they turned around to see several vampires with wide eyes approaching their little clearing.

One of the taller ones with fire-truck red hair spoke up. "We thought we heard someone feeding out here." She looked down to Damon's hand and saw the red on his fingertips. "Was it you?"

"Of course it wasn't him, you dim-wit," a balding, Hispanic man sneered before Damon could answer. "It wasn't either of them. Humans haven't crossed these trails in decades. They are so overgrown with ivy that even we couldn't see them."

"It was me, actually," Elena interjected before anyone could say more. "I caught and ate from a deer. Sorry, if that is against the rules. I didn't know."

"A deer?" repeated the man. "What's wrong with the blood from the humans inside?"

"Nothing, absolutely nothing. I just…um…" she trailed off. How was she supposed to tell them that she considered feeding on humans was barbaric?

"She was just cleansing her palette," Damon finished, and patted her on her shoulder. "What's a fine meal without a few different flavors? Right Elena?"

She wrinkled her nose at him, and he gave her a look that told her to go along with it. Choosing not to lie, especially not to lie about picking animal over people, she remained quiet.

"That's what I always say," the bald man chuckled, darkly. "Sorry about the misunderstanding, you two. By the way, they call me Miguel. Nice to meet 'ya."

Luckily, Miguel didn't extend his hand to Damon, so she didn't have to suffer through the awkwardness when Damon didn't take it. She smiled warmly. "I'm—"

"Elena Gilbert," one of the vampires interrupted. This one had an oval face and white-blonde hair that came to her ears. She had been quiet all this time, and Elena had forgotten that she was there. "We know all about you guys. But, I recognized you from your face, Elena. You're a doppelganger."

"And Damon Salvatore," said the red-haired woman, staring at him appreciatively. "I remember you visiting at my college one night, but I can't say the same for the rest of my sorority sisters."

Elena glanced at him, her eyes full of a mixture of disappointment and humor. He shrugged, uncaringly. "Sorry, don't remember _you._ I've hit a lot of colleges, in a lot of different places."

"I figured."

Miguel wrapped his arm around the little blonde girl's shoulders. "Come on, Lily. Rhonda. Let's go back inside and have a drink with our new friends, Damon and Elena."

"We'll be right behind you," Damon assured him.

The three peculiar yet friendly enough vampires turned around and disappeared into the trees.

Elena took a step forward when Damon grabbed her, suddenly, by the elbow. She whirled around and he pushed her back against a close by tree. And then he kissed her.

It was quick, but filled with the emotional longing he'd been storing for a while now. She could tell by the furious edge on his lips that he had been waiting a long time for this. And he used that intense need to fill every second of their kiss with mind-scrambling, heart-thumping passion, before finally ending it.

His face hovered, still, just inches from hers. She breathed heavily into the small space between them, too wonderstruck to speak.

"We can pretend like that never happened," he whispered. "If that's what you want."

She blinked numerously, trying to look away from the burning fixture of his eyes, before she realized he was actually waiting for an answer.

"Um." What would she say? Did she want to forget the kiss ever happened? Saying it didn't would be like running away from her problems. Besides, it _did _happen and there was nothing she could do about it. It's not like she tried to stop him. But she was avoiding the real question. Did she like it or not? Did she want to kiss him again? "I don't know."

He nodded, and backed away. Clearly, this wasn't the answer he was looking for. But then again, Elena considered, he had been hearing it from her a lot lately.

"Shall we?" he mumbled.

* * *

Bonnie smiled as she watched Jeremy's hand and hers intertwine. Her head was resting on his bare chest from where they were laying in her bed. They had finally decided to move to her room after about an hour ago. The kitchen floor was starting to become uncomfortable.

Jeremy kissed her hair. "This is nice."

"Yeah, it is," she murmured. "Until we have to get up and start looking for Klaus again."

He groaned loudly. "Don't ruin it."

"We can't just lay here forever, you know."

"Sure we can," he responded, jokingly. "Isn't there some kind of spell that can freeze time? Or at least slow it down or something?"

"I wish. But if we're wishing for spells, then let's wish for a spell that can find Klaus and warn him that we lost the stake."

"Shh," he hushed her. "We can talk about that later. We're on vacation, remember?" She nodded, and snuggled in closer to his body. "I just wish we could have done this sooner. I've missed you the last few months, Bonnie."

"Really?" Her eyebrows shot up.

"Of course I have. Why do you sound so surprised?"

"Well I just thought you hated me for ending things."

"No, definitely no," he assured her urgently. "I may have been mad at you, but so were you. Bonnie, I never stopped loving you."

This stunned her. She sat up and rolled over so she could look at his face. "Wow."

At first she was shocked to hear that he still loved her after all this time, but she hadn't anticipated how guilty it would make her feel as well. All that hate and anger she had aimed at him for what he did, even causing her to break up with him, when his love was so strong that he looked past everything. Every second she had spent resenting him; he had been hoping they could fix their relationship.

His eyebrows came together, concerned. "Is something wrong?"

She shook her head, a little too fast. "It's just that…I had no idea. You're really in love with me?"

"Sure I am," he answered, and then his eyes were serious. He put his arm around her waist. "Would it make you feel better if I said I wasn't?"

Bonnie smiled. "Only if you didn't mean it."

"That's fine."

He leaned down and kissed her, burying his hands in her hair. Then he touched his lips to her forehead. When they pulled apart, she saw his big, innocent brown eyes and a new feeling blossomed in her chest. It was warm, and she recognized this feeling immediately.

"I love you too," she whispered.

He grinned from ear to ear, and then kissed her again.

* * *

"Alright, fine," Stefan finally agreed. "I'll help you find whatever it you're looking for, as long as you tell me why you need it."

Katherine circled around his chair once more, lightly touching his shoulder as she passed. "Stefan, did we just make a deal?"

He stood up and faced her squarely. "I think we did."

With a glint in her brown eyes, she slipped her arms around his neck and brought her mouth close to his. Their bodies began swaying from side to side, like they were dancing. "Then how do we seal it?"

The corners of Stefan's mouth pulled up. A part of his brain was screaming at him to stop and drive a stake through this woman's heart. But a much louder part was telling him to keep going, because more than anything, he was angry. Elena was out of her mind. She was miles across the country with _Damon_ and she was going to ignore him, her boyfriend. Well, she was only hurting herself. Who knows just how much _fun_ she was having with his brother. He was totally justified.

He kept repeating that last sentence in his mind as Katherine removed his shirt and kissed him, wildly.

The rest happened in a blur of movement. All he felt was the soft touches of her hands against him and the bed suddenly appearing under his back. Before he knew it, their clothes were strewn across the floor of his bedroom and the smell of her perfume filled his nose. Her skin was so smooth; it made his mind go fuzzy.

His hands clenched into fists and his back arched as she planted kisses in an upward line across his stomach. Their legs twisted together, along with everything else.

The pillows shook themselves off the bed and to the floor.

* * *

Damon watched Elena's back as he followed her stumbling footsteps through the trees and toward the building. Her wariness confused him, but not because he didn't know why. Actually, he couldn't decided whether it was from their kiss, or the fact that she about to be coerced into drinking human blood. He only felt bad about one of them.

He was about to break the silence and ask her if she was okay with the circumstances when a twig snapped behind them. They both turned around, their senses on alert.

But before any other sound could be made, Elena let out a blood-curdling scream. Her hands clutched the sides of her head, and then she fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Elena?" he shouted, and took a step toward her, but then he was on his knees.

A torturous pain pierced through his skull and closed off his hearing and his sight. His fingers dug into the wet soil. His teeth ground together to keep from screaming. And then, just like Elena, the world went black.

**AN: I promise, things will start to pick up now! The plot is going to get going now! And a big thanks to my reviewers who generously complimented my story! So to all those whom it concerns, here is the chapter 7 synopsis:**

_**FIRST IMPRESSIONS-Damon and Elena come face to face with new allies who share shocking information. Katherine reveals her hidden agenda to Stefan but they are soon hit with a roadblock. Caroline has a surprising visitor and together, with Bonnie, Jeremy, and Matt, they begin a new mission. **_


	7. Chapter 7

There's a feeling when one is completely lost that enters your brain, trickles down your stomach, and fills your whole body. Every muscle is tensed, every inch of your skin is spotted with goose bumps…. but in response to what? You have no sense of what the danger, if any, could be.

That was how Elena felt as she woke up on the hard, cold concrete ground. Totally and completely lost.

The first thing she noticed was the soft drabbling of woman's voices, maybe one or two, speaking to each other from inside the same confines as her. Acting on her toes, figuratively, she decided not to open her eyes. She would keep her kidnappers under the impression that she was still under and spy on their conversation.

"…. I still don't think this is a good idea, Joanna," said a deep accented voice.

"That's because you play things on the safe side, Pauline, every damn time," retorted a different voice. "You've complained about the way we do things ever since you came here."

"Easy, Lucy," warned a new voice, whom Elena assumed was Joanna. This one had been quiet for a while. "And Pauline, remember how strong he was. We can't fight him without these vampires. They can give us so much."

"But they are _vampires_. They can't be trusted. Who's to say they won't turn on us the minute they wake up?"

"You shouldn't worry about that. This one may look like Katherine Pierce, but she's far more compassionate than even some of the witches I know. Once she hears our plan, all she will need is a little push in the right direction."

"And the man, Damon Salvatore? I don't exactly see him falling backward into our arms."

There was a pause.

"That's why we decided to wake the girl first," said Lucy. "We'll tell her our plan, and ease her into it. Then _she_ can gain his trust."

"How do we know that will work?"

"He's a Salvatore, Pauline," she assured her. "Those two practically have hearts in their eyes when it comes to a Petrova."

"We'll take your word for it, Lucy," said Joanna, and light footsteps approached her. "She'll be waking up so—"

Elena moved quickly. She was on her feet in seconds, catching just a glimpse of the closest woman's startled expression before she shoved the heel of her hand into her shoulder and knocked her backward.

One of the other women came up behind her, directly in her blind spot, and Elena felt a sharp stab in her side. The pain caused her more anger, which fueled her to flash behind the woman and bite her neck. She only bit for a few seconds, nothing clean, but it was long enough to weaken her. The woman fell to her hands and knees. Elena used this time to pull the knife out of her waist.

But sure enough, that same drilling pain bit into the nerves of her brain, incapacitating her. A gargled scream bounced off the walls of the—well it looked like a basement or a cellar—and she realized it was her own.

The two other women slowly stood up next to the other one, who had her palm held out towards Elena.

The torture slowly subsided into a dull and muted pain, which was enough to calm Elena. Her vision went from red to normal, but more than anything she understood that she wouldn't be able to fight them anymore. They were witches.

Finally, the pain stopped all together. One of the witches with frizzy hair very close to her head stepped toward her. "Hello, Elena. My name is Joanna. We really don't want to hurt you, as long as you don't try to hurt us."

"Who are you, really? What do you want with me?" she instantly demanded. Joanna's comforting voice and soft eyes weren't exactly scaring her, but she wanted to be careful. "And Damon? Where's Damon?"

"He's fine. Still sleeping it off in the other room," she insisted. "When you're ready, we'll wake him together."

"I'm ready. I'm ready right now. I—I just want Damon in here with me." She wasn't cut out to make the hard and fast decisions. Although, she did know what Damon would say if he were here. He wouldn't trust them, and he would let them know peppered with profanities. But Elena decided she would give them the benefit of the doubt.

"Just let us explain, first, please." Joanna turned to one of the other girls with lighter thick hair and purple lips. "Lucy? You're up."

Lucy took a deep breath. "You may know me. I was in Mystic Falls a couple years back for the Masquerade Ball."

Elena's eyes widened. "I do remember you. You worked with Katherine to take the moonstone from us."

"Yeah, and I also helped lock her in the tomb. I promise I'm not with her anymore," she gestured to the others. "I'm with them. You see, we are all relatives of your friend Bonnie. Together, we make a group of witches called Vindico. It's Latin. We want the same things as you."

"I seriously doubt that, Lucy."

She sighed. "You don't want to kill Klaus?"

Elena gasped. "Well, maybe I used to. But things have changed. If you really are going to kill Klaus then I can't go along with it."

"I thought you would feel that way. And we talked and we decided that it was worth it to _rearrange _our plan a little. We searched for a way to destroy him separate from his bloodline, with a little magic."

All of a sudden, the pieces clicked together and she understood. "You took the stake," she breathed.

Wordlessly, Lucy held up the back of her hand, showing Elena the gold ring on her index finger. On the ring was a design, a familiar design of a flowery square with an x inside. It was the same mark that she saw on the wall in Klaus's house.

"How are you going to kill him without killing us?" she demanded. "We're a part of his sire. When he's dead, every vampire created from him dies too."

"Unless he's not really dead. We want to create a dagger from the White Oak stake that will actually work on Klaus."

"But how…." She trailed off. Another thought crossed her head. "Wait. Why did you say it was worth it to rearrange your plans so that I—we would help?"

"We can talk about that later."

"No," she retorted. "Talk about it now. I want to know what I can do to help."

Lucy hesitated. "It's a little hard to explain. The biggest advantage Klaus has over us is his army of hybrids, right? Well, we're going to take them away from him, and we're going to put then on our side."

Elena laughed a little. "That's impossible. The hybrids are sired to Klaus, which means they would die to protect him. Besides, only one hybrid has ever broken the sire bond and it took months of constantly turning. There's no way you'll be able to break that many bonds."

"_Breaking_ the bonds is not our goal," said the other witch, Pauline, speaking to Elena for the first time. She looked a lot like Lucy, but with more petite features and darker hair. "Just retying them."

"Retying?"

"Well, that's the best analogy for it that we've come up with," explained Lucy. "The hybrids are sired to Klaus because his blood turned them. Imagine it like a rope between them, keeping their loyalty bound. But if we reattach that rope to someone else, then their loyalty falls to that someone."

"Sounds pretty extreme. How on earth do you plan on doing it?" she asked, skeptically.

Lucy smiled down at her. "That's where you come in, Elena. You see, we can't just reattach the bonds to _anyone_. It has to be someone compatible to Klaus, so it's like we're confusing the hybrids into thinking they're still sired to him. We searched everywhere for the closest match, and every trail we followed led to you."

"Me?" she gasped. "How am I compatible to Klaus?"

"It all started in the Sacrifice. Anytime a vampire kills, a sort of trade is made. The victim's blood nourishes the vampire, and a part of the vampire goes into the victim."

"Death?" she choked out in a whisper. "It's death, isn't it?"

Lucy nodded. "In a sense. And that same process happened when Klaus killed you. So when you came back to life, soul intact, the two of you were permanently connected."

"Wow," Elena breathed. For a second, she wondered if these people were out of their minds. "This is ridiculous, Lucy. This is really ridiculous. You're never going to confuse a hybrid into thinking I'm Klaus. Please, we don't even look alike."

Pauline scoffed at her. Joanna shot her a look of warning.

"You don't have to look like him, Elena. It's different than that. With the proper coaching, you can channel Klaus with your mind, enough to reattach the sire bonds to yourself."

Elena opened her mouth to shoot the offer down, but snapped it shut when she realized that there wasn't anything wrong with considering it. They wanted Klaus gone and out of their lives more than ever now, but then when Finn died they just thought there was no going over that bump in the road. But if there was a way around it…. Who cared what she had to do to accomplish it? Maybe they could trust these witches.

She looked up at Lucy, who was waiting for an answer.

"I want to talk to Damon, now. I'm ready."

* * *

Stefan sat up in his bed, and glanced at the empty space beside him.

He threw on some pants and went downstairs into the parlor, where he saw Katherine, in her underwear and his shirt, rummaging in one of his storage trunks. Half of its contents were thrown about the floor surrounding her.

He watched her for a second, knowing she knew he was there. Finally, she sighed.

"It's a grimoire," she told him. "That's what I'm looking for."

"Why would you come here if you were looking for a grimoire? Wouldn't Bonnie know more about this than me?"

"Yes, she would," Katherine admitted, easily. "But the one I want is special. For a while it was believed to be lost, but it was just collected by a magical family."

He nodded. "The Martins."

"Jonas, his son Luka, and his daughter Greta. When they died, little Bonnie made sure their collection was preserved."

"Yeah, she would have kept them at her house but her dad wouldn't let her. He never liked the fact that his daughter was a witch, let alone having any magical artifacts in his house."

"So noble Damon offered to store them here in the boardinghouse. That's why I came to you. The sex was just a bonus."

He chuckled, hollowly, and went to take a seat in the red leather armchair after pouring himself a glass of Damon's bourbon. Katherine watched him with her eyebrows raised.

"Well, are you going to tell me where they are or sit and watch show tunes all morning?"

* * *

Caroline turned away from her bedroom mirror and slipped on her black boots, snatching her car keys before bounding down the stairs.

As she rounded the corner, there was a knock on the door.

"I'm coming," she called.

But when fumbled with the dead bolt and swung open the door, there was no one standing there. She leaned her head outside to check the front lawn but it was empty, not even a car or a bike on the street.

Caroline shrugged and turned around.

She found herself face to face with Klaus.

* * *

Damon opened his eyes and, for a second, thought he was still dreaming. But there was too much pain for it to be a dream.

A warm drop of blood fell onto his shoulder and he looked up to see his wrists chain to a dirty rock wall. Metal spokes were digging into his skin, which was causing the bleeding.

But he could handle that. This wasn't _his_ first time being chained up.

"Elena?" he coughed out as loud as his thick throat would allow him, which wasn't that loud.

His eyes finally adjusted to the darkness of the room, and he noticed the four faces staring back at him.

"Can we at least take the chains off of him, guys? He's not an animal," Elena pleaded, and without waiting for an answer she proceeded to unlock Damon's wrist cuffs. He faltered a little and she caught him and helped him catch his balance.

"Elena, what the hell's going on?" he demanded quietly in her ear.

"I know it's crazy, Damon," she whispered. "But these witches can help us. Just hear them out and—"

As soon as she said the word _witches_, Damon connected them to the attack in the woods and his expression turned dark, the purple veins crawling down his face. He disappeared from Elena's arms and blurred across the room, reappearing in front of Lucy, his fangs bared.

"Damon!" Elena shouted.

At the sound of her voice, he turned around and looked at her. Something in her expression was enough to make the veins in his face go away. His eyes turned from red to blue again, and his hands unclenched at his sides.

"Please let us explain," she continued.

Damon's body tensed and relaxed, tensed and relaxed. He knew he could trust Elena, but the problem was deciding whether he could trust these witches or not. Finally, he turned back to Lucy.

"You have thirty seconds," he warned. "Make it count."

* * *

"Klaus!" Caroline shrieked, half shocked and half elated.

His face didn't change as he lifted a finger to his lips.

"Caroline?" her mother called coming from her bedroom, dressed in her sheriff uniform. "Who are you talking to? Was there someone at the door?"

Caroline's heart skipped a beat, expecting her mother to freak out over Klaus being here, or vice versa. But as soon as her mom came in, he disappeared.

"Um, no, there wasn't. I was just talking to myself, I guess," she stuttered. "Sorry. Are you going to work?"

The sheriff blinked out of her confused expression and nodded. "Yeah, and I'll be home late so you'll have to eat dinner alone. There's till some lasagna from last night that you can reheat."

"Got it."

She waved to her mother as she headed out the door. It wasn't until after the sound of the squad car's engine faded into the distance that she went into the living room and found Klaus sitting on her couch, his arm hanging over the back of it.

"Good to see you again, love," he murmured.

She exploded on him. "God, where the hell have you been? We've been looking everywhere for you. Don't you understand that you can't just take off like that when the only weapon capable of mass destruction is missing? Are you crazy?"

He rolled his eyes. "Caroline, please. I know the stake's been stolen."

"Really?" She went to sit down in the rocking chair. "Well, do you know who took it?"

"Unfortunately no, that's why I'm here. And…. I missed you," he told her, his eyes sincere.

She scoffed. "Yeah, right. Don't pretend like you're not here just so you can hide from whoever has it."

"Could it have been one of my siblings? There are plenty of reasons why they would want something like that in their own possession."

"No, they left town a few days after you. The stake's only been gone for a week."

"Hmm." Klaus leaned forward and straightened out the magazines on the coffee table. "Well, I'm sure if we put our knowledge together then we can solve this, Caroline."

* * *

"You really need a maid," Katherine commented as she roamed the flashlight beam over the dusty shelves of the basement beneath the basement. Stefan didn't answer. So she just followed him down the hall until he stopped at one of the wooden bookshelves.

"I think this is where Damon put them," he said, taking out one of the thick books and shining his flashlight on the pages.

Katherine peeked over his shoulder. "Yup, definitely witch lore." She scanned the whole shelf from top to bottom. "_A lot_ of witch lore."

"Better be, considering how long they spent hunting down every single one of them," he replied. "Listen, there's no way we're going to find the right grimoire without Bonnie, let alone be able to read it."

"Alright. Call the baby Bennett, tell her that her dear friend Katherine needs a favor," she smiled. "That ought to go over well."

"Hold on just a second, though," Stefan laid down the book and turned to her. "Tell me why you need this grimoire. What's inside of it that's so important?"

She shook her head, thinking to herself for a moment. "I wish I had a better answer, Stefan. But all I can say is that I've been handling the dirty work for someone much more powerful."

"Dirty work?" he repeated. "So you're basically running errands for someone else. Who would that be, exactly?"

Katherine stared at his face, her own expression unfathomable. This was the first time Stefan had ever seen her hold information from him when he didn't want to strangle her for it. Because he saw in her eyes that there was a reason she wasn't telling him, a reason that didn't involve her.

"Bing," she murmured, softer than a whisper. "Times up."

* * *

"And this," Lucy said, opening the third green door on the right side of the hallway, "is your room."

Elena stepped into the room with Damon behind her. It was a substantially sized room with a large four-poster bed in the middle. The first thing Elena noticed was the view from the window. Thousands of trees could be seen, miles into the horizon, just under the setting sun.

"Your house is beautiful, Lucy, but," she hesitated, "one bed?"

Lucy sighed. "This is all the room we have right now."

Damon leaned his shoulder against one of the bedposts and crossed his arms. "She's just worried because we kissed earlier today and now we get to share a room."

Elena shot him a reproachful look.

Lucy nodded, feeling uncomfortable. "Well, the bathroom's down the hall. Towels are in the closet. Tomorrow you can call your friends so they come up here and be involved."

"Thank you," Elena responded. "Oh, and, um, when do we start the whole... you know?"

"_Not_ tomorrow. We'll wait till you're strong and ready." Lucy left the room, closing the door behind her. They listened to the sound of her footsteps walking down the stairs.

Damon followed Elena around as she unpacked her suitcase.

"Ooh, your boyfriend's going to be mad," he said in a childish voice, his eyes brighter than Christmas lights.

She rolled her eyes. "Don't you have things to unpack?"

"Actually," he bounced himself into a sitting position on the bed. "We're going to be living together, so I think I'm going to start calling you roomy."

"Okay, can you not kid around for a just a second," she demanded. "I mean we _are _in the heart of a witch house where they _say_ we can trust that what they're telling us is true. It's not like I'm asking you to be a cold, hollow shell, but at least take this situation a little seriously."

He looked at her, his eyes amused. "I trust you, Elena."

"What?"

He stood up and placed his hands on her shoulders. "If you say that these witches are telling us the truth, then I trust you."

Her expression must have been flabbergasted, because he watched her with even more amusement than before. She would admit that she was disappointed that he seemed so comfortable with staying here. It wasn't like she was worried that Lucy and the other witches were lying, but it just wasn't like Damon to have so much faith in them.

That's why she felt so honored for him to say that she was one he could trust. It shouldn't have come as a surprise to her, though. She was completely aware of his feelings for her, and just how long he had felt them. But trust was something rare for him.

"And you trust _me_, right?" he asked her.

"Of course."

"Alright, because I need to say something that you need to hear."

She nodded.

Damon took a deep breath, and then looked her in the eye, intensely. "You need a shower, roomy."

* * *

"Okay," Caroline said as Klaus paced in the living room doorway behind her. "I've made a chart here where we can fill in the names of possible perpetrators from least likely to most likely."

Klaus stopped to evaluate Caroline's creation. On the empty wall space beside the fireplace, she had pinned three rows and three columns of index cards. She noticed him staring and smiled proudly.

"Like it? You see, the pink cards are the people who may or may not have done it, like your siblings, the yellow cards are the medium guilty, and the blue cards are the guilty _guilty_ people. Then all we have to do is single them out until we find the right person."

He glanced at her, a strange look in his eyes. "Sometimes I worry about you, Caroline. Then other times," he touched a finger to one of the index cards, "I think you'll do just fine."

She giggled and poised her pen on a yellow card. "Now you've just got to give me some names."

Instead, he sat down in the suede armchair. "Why are you helping me, Caroline? We both remember when I abducted Tyler's body for a time. Something like that can't be forgiven."

"I thought Bonnie put you in his body to save you from Alaric."

"Well, yes, and I had no part in it considering you lot desiccated me, enabling me to move. But that's not the point. How are we getting along so easily?" he questioned.

She shrugged. "We both have a common goal: to find the stake. If you die, the rest of us go down with you. So, in a way, I'm trying to protect Tyler, and myself."

He seemed to be waiting for an _and you _at the end of her statement, but it never came. His expression was saddening. He quickly changed the subject. "So where is young Tyler? Poor bloke is owed a drink, I'd say."

"Oh my god," Caroline exclaimed. "I was supposed to meet him right now for lunch. I totally forgot."

This brought the light back into Klaus's face. The fact that Caroline had forgotten about Tyler while she was with him cheered him up, greatly.

"I have to call him. Excuse me," she left the room and dialed Tyler's number.

"Caroline?" he answered, his voice hinting at anger.

"Hey, Tyler, I called to apologize. I'm so sorry that I didn't show. I know it feels like I ditched you, but I have a good reason, I swear."

There was a pause. "Well?"

"Oh right. Well, I… I slept in. Yeah, I slept right through my alarm clock. Just woke up. Tyler, I'm really sorry."

She felt bad for lying to him, but it was better that he didn't know about Klaus showing up. He wouldn't think it was safe for her to be alone with him. He would want to come over and that would lead to him and Klaus fighting, and he would end up dead. It was a basic domino effect. It really was better to lie.

"Don't worry, Car, it's fine. Maybe we can reschedule," he offered.

"Sounds great," she sighed in relief. "I'll call you later, okay?"

"Okay. I love you."

"Love you, too."

Sadly, Caroline hung up the phone and went back into the living room. She was ready to hear Klaus make a remark about Tyler, and come back at him with a remark on eavesdroppers, but there was nobody there.

What made her angry was that she hadn't expected him to leave so soon. Of course he had caught her by surprise. That was his specialty. But the feeling left inside of her as she stared at the empty room caught her by even more surprise. Not wanting to explore it anymore, she pushed it back into the recesses of her mind.

With a sigh, Caroline went to unpin the index cards, but there was something different. Above the row of pink cards, there was one singular white card. Written on the top line, in Klaus's handwriting, was the headline 'Friends'. Below that was one name. Caroline Forbes.

Her stomach rolled like a bowling ball, and a genuine smile spread across her face.

* * *

The door to the boardinghouse swung open before Bonnie had the time to knock.

"Bonnie, thank you for coming," Stefan greeted her, his forehead creased with worry lines.

"You said on the phone that you needed my help with something," she said. "Is everything okay?"

He gestured for her to come in. "Why don't you come take a look?"

She followed him to the parlor where she saw Katherine surrounded by dozens of thick, leather-bound books, and she was sorting them into piles. Stefan stopped and folded his arms across his chest.

"You remember these?"

"The Martin's collection of grimoires?" she asked. "What are doing with them?"

"It doesn't matter," Katherine retorted. "All we need you to do is fish me out the right one."

Bonnie scanned the piles of books and, finally, Katherine's face. She thought about how much pride Luka and his father had when they were showing her their collection. Who would she be if she didn't try to protect them the best she could? And something about leaving one with Katherine rubbed her the wrong way.

She turned and spoke directly to Stefan. "I'm sorry, Stefan, but I can't help you unless I know what she plans to do with it afterwards."

Katherine rolled her eyes.

"Look," Stefan sighed. "I've got it covered. She's not going to pull anything. I'll make sure of it. I'll leave town with her if I have to. Just, please, help us out."

She bit her lip. "What can you tell me about it?" she asked Katherine.

"I know it's a series of defense spells by a woman named Judith White," she told her.

Bonnie knelt down by the books and began setting aside the ones that didn't match the criteria Katherine was looking for. "Do you know what year it was created?"

She shrugged. "Sometime in the 1820's, I think. Why? Is that important?"

"Each book is numbered and color-coded by the year it was written. Ever century has a specific color, and then numbered by the decade. For example, your book will have a spot of green in the upper right-hand corner for the 1800's, and a two within the spot for the 20's."

"As long as it's not complicating." Katherine picked through the stacks and made a pile of several books from the 1820's. "So how do we know which one of these is the right one?"

"Most of the grimoires I've seen are initialed by their authors. So I would guess that this one," she pulled a book out of the stack with the initials J. L. W., "is the one you want."

She took it from her and scanned the front cover. "Yeah, that's the one. I knew I slept with you for a reason, Stefan."

"What?" Bonnie looked up at Stefan with wide eyes. "Stefan, you didn't…"

His expression was aggravated, his mouth a hard line. Bonnie could tell he wasn't anticipating for her to find out. But she was glad she did, even though it was hard to swallow. Elena was her best friend, and she had never expected Stefan to be the cheating type.

"Damn it," Katherine shouted, and tossed the book to the floor. "We have a _smidge_ of a problem."

The book was still open as it landed at Bonnie's feet. She picked it up and saw what Katherine was talking about.

At first, all she noticed was the recipe for wolf's bane, which confused her because this was probably not what Katherine was looking for. Then she saw what was protruding from between the binding.

The page after the wolf's bane recipe had been ripped from the book, leaving only an inch of the paper left, its edge shredded and torn.

"It's gone," Katherine explained in a hopeless tone. "The page is gone."

**AU: Another chapter…check! I hope you've noticed how quickly I updated! I'm kind of proud of myself! And I hope you liked the chapter, as well. So I'll just cut to the chase and give you the chapter 8 synopsis:**

_**MAKING PLANS-The witches share more of their plans with the group and they realize they need the assistance of someone back at home. Stefan and Bonnie join them, already aware of one detail of information. Elena learns surprising news from more than one person and, with help from Lucy, unlocks interesting memories her mind had been holding back from her. Finally, Stefan and Damon have an intense talk on the future.**_


	8. Chapter 8

Elena opened her eyes and groaned.

There was light coming in from the west, through the window. But Elena had never wanted to stay in bed more. Her muscles ached from constantly tossing and turning, and her skin was damp from the much too warm air. She tossed the blankets away from her body and yanked her knotted hair out of her face.

Damon strolled in from the walk-in closet, buttoning up his dark blue shirt.

"Morning, sleepy head," he chuckled.

"What time is it?"

"Almost eight," he answered, sitting down in the chair beside the window. "By the way, did you know you talk in your sleep? You wouldn't shut up all night. My name came up a few times, though."

She sat up and kneaded her forehead with her fingers. "It doesn't feel like I slept at all. Or maybe I did, about two hours ago." Elena looked at Damon, who was sipping some light brown drink and gargling it like he was rinsing his mouth. "What did you do all night?"

"Listened to you have a conversation with yourself, basically. Then I called Stefan, told him _almost _everything—of course I left out the part where you and I made out and are now living together—and he said that he was on his way up. Bit of a challenge giving directions to a hiding place in the middle of nowhere, though."

Elena sighed and got out of bed to yank the lilac curtains closed. The sun was completely burning her eyes. She wondered if this was how she would feel all over if she didn't have a daylight ring.

"Get dressed. I'm not going to be seen anywhere with you while you're looking like that." He assessed her wrinkled pajama shorts and tank. "You need any help with that?"

"I'll manage." She went into the closet to her rack. Damon had given her the larger space; the rest of his clothes were still in his suitcase in the corner. Half-heartedly, she picked out a standard pair of jeans and a long-sleeved cotton shirt. She combed her hair and slipped on some shoes. When she was finally done, her and Damon went downstairs to the kitchen.

There was only one other person in the kitchen standing by the stove when they came in, but it wasn't one of the witches. It was a man with sandy hair, who seemed oddly familiar, until he turned around.

"Ash?" Elena gasped. "What are you doing here?"

He laughed. "Joanna's my foster mother. Omelet?"

"Um, sure." She sat down in one of the stools as he slid a fluffy omelet from the pan onto her plate. "So then you know that she's a…you know?"

"Witch?" he asked her, and then proceeded to lift up his sleeve, exposing a tattoo that matched Lucy's ring, and every other place they had seen that mark. "Yeah, I'm sort of part of the whole community thing. And I know that you and Damon are vampires."

Damon uncorked a bottle of tequila and poured it over a glass of orange juice. "So are you swimming in that gene pool?" he asked.

"You mean, am I a witch too? No, I'm not. Joanna isn't even related to me. Like I said, she's just a friend of the family."

"Now, now. Don't deny your heritage too soon. I mean, look at you. An average busboy with arms bigger around then his head, here in the middle of magical and extraordinary people." He looked at Elena. "Sounds like somebody else we know."

"Please excuse Damon," Elena said, wiping her fork on a napkin. "He's still being house trained."

"At least you don't have to deal with Pauline," Ash said, leaning his elbows on the counter. "Talk about nightmare."

Elena cleared her throat as Pauline walked into the kitchen and went straight to the coffee pot with Joanna behind her.

Joanna put her hand on Ash's shoulder. "Morning, honey. Now did you offer our guests breakfast?"

"Yes, mom," he teased.

"Don't worry, Joanna, he is a perfect gentleman," Elena assured her.

Joanna ruffled Ash's hair. "I think he might have acquired that from his job at Charlotte's. I would have promoted him by now, but he's just so good at it."

"So you're the owner of Charlotte's?" Damon asked, gesturing to her with his glass.

She nodded. "That restaurant has been passed down through the generations of witches. Charlotte was the founder of Vindico, ergo the name."

"Well, did you know that that place is a vampire sanctuary?" he demanded.

"Of course we do," Pauline interjected. "Do _you_ think that anything can go on under that roof without us knowing about it?"

Ash exchanged a look with Elena, and she smiled.

"Actually," Joanna added. "That was my mother's idea. You see, we've formed somewhat of an agreement between the vampires. With Charlotte's and vampire country, we offer them prey, as long as they don't kill, and they leave our family alone."

"Wow. Vampire country, too," Elena commented.

"If you draw a line between Charlotte's, vampire country, and this house, then they form a triangle. Or in other words, our sanctuary."

"From people like you," Pauline addressed Damon and Elena.

Ash groaned. "Just shut up, Pauline."

Elena giggled, and Ash winked at her.

* * *

Elena closed the bedroom door behind her and dialed Caroline's number.

"Hey, Elena," Caroline picked up as she sat down on the edge of the bed. "I talked to Stefan. He told me where you guys were. Big stuff, right?"

"Yeah, I guess it hasn't really sunk in yet for me," she answered, dully. "But there was something I needed to talk to you about. How much did Stefan tell you?"

"Nothing really. All he said was that you guys met some witches related to Bonnie, and that you were staying with them."

For a moment, Elena wondered why Damon left out so much information when he called Stefan. But knowing Damon, any answer she had would probably be wrong, and the real answer would probably surprise her. So she decided it would be best if she just left it alone.

"What? Is there something else?" Caroline asked.

"A lot, actually. These witches are the ones who took the White Oak stake. Apparently, they have a sure-fire plan to use it on Klaus and keep the rest of us alive."

There was pause. "Really?"

"Yeah, I know right? It's…surreal," she mused. Then she realized that there was something in Caroline's voice, a note of sadness underneath the surprise. "Are you okay?"

Caroline sighed. "Why is this such a big deal? Klaus left the country. He wasn't bothering us anymore."

"Caroline, this is _Klaus_, okay? He's tormented us ever since we first heard his name. We can finally end this. Don't you want to give Tyler his freedom back?"

"I'm _thinking _about Tyler here. What if this plan doesn't work? Tyler will die."

Elena was about to answer, when an idea crossed her mind. "This is about Klaus, isn't it? You don't want us to kill him, because deep down…you have feelings for him."

"What?" she demanded, and her voice was too high-pitched. "Are you judging me, Elena? It's not like your record is perfectly clean. Don't tell me you haven't had a thought about Damon ever."

She bit her lip. "Okay, I'm sorry. I was out of line."

"Me too," Caroline said, apologetically. "And you're right. This is the right thing to do. How can I help?"

"Well, that's what I wanted to talk to you about." Elena stood up and walked toward the window. "Do you think you can get a hold of Tyler? We need to gather as many hybrids as possible."

"Why?"

"I'll explain it all later. Just get Tyler and the rest and bring them down here."

"You got it," she told her. "See you later, Elena."

As Elena hung up the phone, Caroline's words repeated over and over again in her head. _Don't tell me you haven't had a thought about Damon ever._ Why would she bring that up? Of course she never liked Damon, but it wasn't like her to be so snappy and cynical about it. And then again, she _had _just talked to Stefan.

Did Caroline and Stefan talk about her like that just all the time? Even considering that made her furious. If Stefan had a problem about her and Damon, he should just come to her, not Caroline. Who was he to spread their personal problems around to her friends?

_Don't tell me you haven't had a thought about Damon ever._ No mater how angry Stefan was making her, she still couldn't get those words out of her head. Did the kiss in the forest count as thoughts, or was it worse? Was it her fault that even a simple touching of Damon's lips sent her heart fluttering wildly, that it caused her to rethink every choice she's ever made….

Did that count?

Her musings were cut short when she suddenly became aware that she was not alone. She whirled around.

"Knock, knock," Lucy murmured as she entered the room. "You mind if I come in?"

"It's your house."

She came in, remembering to shut the door behind her, and leaned against the wall beside Elena. From the looks of her, Elena briefly wondered how old Lucy was. She could easily be her same age, but different than any other magical ally they had ever had. Lucy was a fresh mind, someone cool.

"So what's with the snarky leather jacket?" she asked, casually.

"Damon?" Elena smiled. "He just takes some getting used to. Trust me, you'll learn to lo—tolerate him." Her stomach flipped when the word almost came through her lips.

Lucy eyed her suspiciously, as if she knew there was something going on there. But she let it drop. "So, I heard you were having some trouble with your transition."

"Who told you that?"

"I talked to Bonnie. She's almost here by the way, but that's not the point," she explained. "I…. _we_ want you to understand that our magic is a bit different than what you've seen. Stronger. I can help you along, if you want, with the small things."

She shook her head. "You can't help me. It's never going to be easy for me. I've accepted that."

"Have you? I know you want to be able to heal others. That's just your compassion. You think being a vampire requires give and take."

Her eyes widened. "Can you make my blood heal?"

"No, I can't do that," she admitted. "But there are other things I can help with. Haven't you ever wondered why you never remembered the times you were compelled?"

"Yeah. But as far as I know, I've never been compelled. There's no way of knowing," she replied, but in the back of her mind, she was thinking about when Elijah compelled her to tell him the location of the moonstone. If it was true that all of your human experiences with compulsion come back to you as a vampire, then that would have resurfaced at some point in her transition.

"What if I told you there was a way of knowing?" she questioned, mischievously.

Elena stared at her, deliberating.

Lucy smiled, and gestured to the chair. "Sit down."

* * *

Bonnie sighed. "According to Lucy, we're about an hour away. Just stay on this road."

"Okay," Stefan answered, flatly, his eyes fixed on the asphalt rolling beneath them. He had practically been ignoring her the entire long drive. Bonnie was getting frustrated with him.

"Who do you think Katherine was working for?" she asked, hopefully, so that maybe he would start talking about the elephant in the car. "Should we have just let her go that easily?"

"I think," he said, emphasizing the word _think,_ "that she can't do anything until she finds the missing page of the grimoire. At that point, we should implore the situation more."

"At that point?" she repeated. "So we're supposed to just not worry in the time being? This is Katherine, working for a bigger Katherine, who is looking for a weapon spell. This could literally end a million different ways. You know that don't you, Stefan?"

He smirked that inferior smile. "Which is why I have a plan. We just have to find the missing page first."

Bonnie didn't answer because she realized that Stefan probably understood that the page could be practically anywhere around the Earth. He wasn't going to argue. Obviously, Stefan knew this, so there had to be an important reason for him to suggest it.

"So did you mean it when you said you'd follow her out of town?" she asked suddenly.

He hesitated. "There's nothing left for me in Mystic Falls anymore, Bonnie. I've realized this. And I accept it."

"Nothing left? What about your girlfriend or your brother?" she demanded. "Do they not matter to you anymore?"

"Elena's and my relationship will never be the same after what I've done. She'll pretend that nothing's wrong on the outside, but she'll never forgive me. Neither of them will. It's better that I just let them be together instead of it happening behind my back."

She bit her lip. "Elena will forgive you. When things like this happen, she's the one who looks past everything and makes the rest of us see reason. Just give her some time. In fact, do whatever it takes."

He glanced at her. "I hope you're right, Bonnie."

* * *

Lucy watched the minute hand on the alarm clock tick, and this time the little hand moved with it. She buried her head in the pillows and groaned.

"Elena, we've been at this for almost an hour. Please tell me you've thought of something."

Elena, her eyes shut, leaned forward and inhaled once more in the heavily scented smoke that came from the burning leaves Lucy had set beside her. She'd told her if she breathed in the smoke and replayed in her head every memorable moment she had had as a human, from most recent to her early years, the compulsions would come back to her easily. So far, it wasn't working.

"No, nothing yet," she tiredly answered her. The more she tried, the more she realized how much she wanted these memories. "I'll try one more time."

Focusing with all her concentration, she smelled the flowery smoke and thought about a date she had with Matt one time in sophomore year. She remembered every little detail she could, but there was no response. Then, just when she was about to give up, something happened.

It was a warm, fuzzy feeling inside of her when Matt's face popped up. All of a sudden, a trail opened up. It was like a train of thought that when she brought up more memories of Matt, it led her to more fuzzy feeling. She must be getting close.

"I've got something," she alerted Lucy.

"Shh," she warned. "Just concentrate."

It was obvious that Matt was the key for the moment, so she stuck with him. Every moment they had shared together flicked through her head until she reached one of their last nights as a couple. It was the night her parents died, the night of the bonfire.

The warmth went wild on her as this memory played, but it wasn't aimed at Matt anymore. It flipped like pages of a book to the end of the party. And then, unexpectedly, the memories played without her help. It was like watching a movie on the inside of her eyelids.

She was talking to Bonnie on the phone, telling her about the decision she had made to end things with Matt, when Damon showed up.

Her first thought was to ask him what he was doing here inside her head. But then he spoke directly to her.

"Katherine?" he murmured, breathlessly.

"No," she answered quizzically, glancing behind her to make sure she was the one he was addressing. "I'm Elena."

At this point, nothing in this memory was familiar to Elena. She remembered perfectly this night, because it was one of her worst nightmares. Until now, she was under the impression that she was aware of everything that had happened. But that wasn't true, because this memory had been compelled from her brain.

"I'm sorry," he continued, now more like the Damon she knew. "You just really remind me of someone. "I'm Damon, by the way."

"Not to be rude or anything, Damon, but it's kind of creepy… you being here in the middle of nowhere."

"You're one to talk. You're out here, all by yourself."

"It's Mystic Falls. Nothing bad ever happens here," she disregarded him. "I got into a fight with my boyfriend."

"About what?" he wondered, and then held his arms up as if he'd pondered too much. "May I ask?"

"Life," she answered simply. "The future. He's got it all mapped out."

"And you don't want it?"

"I don't know what I want." Elena watched her say this with a sense of dread. How many times had she answered Damon with _I don't know_? And every time, he had probably remembered this moment.

"That's not true," he murmured. "You want what everybody wants."

"What? A mysterious stranger that has all the answers?"

He chuckled, nonchalantly. "I've been around for a long time. I've learned a few things."

"So, Damon," she smiled, seductively. "Tell me. What is it that I want?"

He walked forward, closer than the normal stranger would. His blue eyes were intense, and the memory Elena felt like her legs would give out. Nobody had ever looked at her that same way.

"You want a love that consumes you," he said, softly. "You want passion, adventure, and even a little danger."

It was a moment before she found the air to speak. " Well, what do _you_ want?"

"Uh…" He searched for the words.

Headlights flashed from behind her. She turned around to identify the car. "That's my parents."

When she turned back around, he was extremely close to her. His eyes took on a different entrancing glow and she couldn't look away.

"I want you to get everything you're looking for," he told her. "But for right now, I want you to forget this happened. "Can't have people knowing I'm in town yet." He winked. "Goodnight, Elena."

Suddenly, the headlights behind her glared brighter and brighter until their brilliant yellow and red light filled her entire vision. When the lights died out, a new scene was going on in her head.

She was watching her and Damon again, standing in her bedroom. He was holding up her old vervain locket that Stefan had given her, and his eyes were puffy and red. This was a surprise to Elena.

"I just have to say something," he insisted. "You just need to hear it."

Her memory self waited, warily, afraid of what was coming next.

"I love you, Elena," he said, his voice was strong and sure. "And it is because I love you that…I can't be selfish with you, and why you can't know this. I don't deserve you. But my brother does."

He leaned forward and gently kissed her forehead. When he looked at her face again, there was a single silver tear melting from the blue ice in his eyes. His pupils shrank to practically the size of a needlepoint. Then, in a second of blurry colors, wind, and heavily scented smoke, he was gone, and the necklace was on her neck.

Before she knew it, she was back in Lucy's house, sitting beside the window. Outside, the sun had almost disappeared behind the never-ending tree line.

"Did you see anything?" Lucy urgently asked.

Elena couldn't answer. Her whole body was numb, yet somehow she was aware of her hands shaking in her lap. The scenes she witnessed were gone, yet somehow she still heard Damon's voice, like an echo.

A beautiful echo.

* * *

Damon watched the glowing embers of the fire dance inside the giant fireplace of the second living room of the witches' house. He took a sip of his bourbon as Stefan walked into the room.

"When'd you get in, brother?" he asked emotionlessly, without taking his eyes off the fire.

"A few minutes ago."

He turned around. "Well, Elena's sleeping upstairs, unless you two have already had your joyous reunion moment."

"That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about." Stefan went to the corner where a cart of alcohol sat and poured himself a drink identical to Damon's. "Refill?"

"I'm good," he retorted, lifting the glass back to his lips.

Damon stared at his brother while he sat himself down on the low brown suede couch, waiting for whatever bull that would come from his mouth. But he'd been through hell the last of a couple days, aside from a few moments, and was prepared for anything.

Or so he thought.

It was a while before he finally spoke. "Look, Damon, I don't know why you took Elena on this trip. I don't know why you've become hell bent to take her away from me since the day you met her. And I'm not asking."

Damon swallowed. "Get to the point."

"I've done a lot of thinking while sitting alone back at home, and even made a few mistakes, but I'm ready to put everything behind me and start over."

"Finally, your brooding has paid off," he remarked, thinking that Stefan was referring to their brotherly relationship. Then it hit him. He wasn't talking about _them_ at all.

His eyes turned dark, as if the blue skies were covered with storm clouds. "You really think that's going to work, Stefan? Bonnie's already told me what happened. Nice job, brother, sleeping with the enemy. You really know how to keep a healthy relationship. Wait a minute, have you been stealing notes from my ten point book?"

Stefan chuckled, but it didn't affect his menacing expression. "Joke all you want, Damon. Elena's still _my _girlfriend and there's nothing that can change that once I clear out this wedge that formed between us. Not even you."

"You want me to stay away from Elena? Really?"

"Actually," he stood up and laid his hands on Damon's shoulders, "yes. And maybe right now you're denying it, but you'll end up doing what you know is right. You wouldn't do anything to hurt your baby brother, would you, Damon?"

The whole room turned red in the bubbling fury of Damon's anger. But, as he thought about what Stefan said, he noticed what was beneath the anger. Hopelessness.

For the first time in his life, Damon Salvatore was giving up. Stefan was right. There was no way he was going to be able to stand next to Elena and feel what he felt for her without thinking of his brother, and how unfair he was being to him. It was an unspoken rule. Finder's keepers, loser's weepers.

_Damn it, Stefan,_ he thought to himself. As of now, no matter how hard he tried not to, he had to admit that Elena belonged to Stefan. And there really was nothing he could do about it.

He didn't feel any differently about her, but he had to honor his brother.

* * *

She laid alone in the darkness, without a chance of falling to sleep.

Elena had never been so completely overcome with emotions before. They filled every portion of her body, tingling like millions of tiny bubbles. She tried to remember the last time she had ever come close. Maybe it was the night that she told Stefan she loved him for the first time, and even then, there hadn't been this overwhelming and thrilling sensation.

Every part of her felt different, from her toes to the tip of her head. Her eyes saw a new world, her ears heard only sweet sounds, and anytime she opened her mouth, she only wanted to say one thing.

It was like her heart was a candle. Earlier it burned a slow, dull flame. It wasn't warm, but it was steady enough. Then it went out as soon as she remembered the things Damon compelled her to forget, and it was replaced by wild, hot burning fire. This new flame warmed her more, held her up like a hot air balloon with no intention of ever coming down.

She clutched the blanket between her fingers, unsure of whether to accept this happiness or not. Was it the right thing to do?

Then the candle warmth floated to her brain, and she saw reason. How could it be the right thing to do if it wasn't what she wanted to do?

And this time, she was sure of what she wanted with all her being. This time, she knew.

**AN: Eight down and 14 more to go! Hope you liked this chapter and the ones to come. I'm really excited for what's to come for Damon and Elena with these new complications! Also, as I am following the same traditions as the show, my mid-story finale is coming up! Chapter ten will be exciting just like a mid-season finale and then there will be a short break (not a month like the show) but a week or two! Let's get excited, people! **

**Alright, alright, here it is! Chapter nine synopsis:**

_**ON THE HUNT-Stefan, Bonnie, Elena, and Damon go searching for the missing page of the grimoire in dangerous locations. Elena confesses something personal to Damon and is quite surprised at his reaction. Caroline urges Tyler to help her gather the hybrids, but complications soon arise. **_


	9. Chapter 9

"He did what?" Elena almost shouted to Bonnie, who was sitting cross-legged in front of her on the bed.

Bonnie reached over to grab her hand. "I'm sorry. I wish I had better news than a cheating boyfriend and another stupid thing we have to find, but I don't."

Fuming, Elena leapt onto her feet and paced the room. As if she had any more space inside of her head to be even angrier with Stefan. And now he does this. Lately, it seemed as if he was holding their relationship over a cliff, trying to see how long it would take for her to pull it back over the edge or drop it into the river.

But deep down, Elena had to admit that she was done caring about anything Stefan did. Maybe if she had heard this news last week then she would feel differently about it. But Stefan really wasn't hers to worry about anymore. If it wasn't done already, she was going to lacerate any ties they had together. Their relationship had fallen into the river.

"Should I not have told you?" Bonnie wondered, her eyes brutally innocent.

"No, I'm glad I know," she admitted, more to herself than Bonnie. "Besides, Stefan can do whatever he wants now. I've moved on."

Bonnie's eyes widened. "Are you saying you're breaking up with him?"

Elena sighed. "What do you want me to do, Bonnie? We've done the relationship thing over and over again. It never works out. And this time wasn't any different."

"But Stefan's your ep—"

"Epic love?" Elena finished, coldly. "Bonnie, Stefan and I have grown apart. I've accepted that, and you should too." Suddenly, an idea came to her mind. "Does he even know that you told me about this?"

She shook her head.

"Huh." Elena had to wonder, was Stefan planning on her ever finding out? Was he going to tell her what he did? Well, she was just going to have to see.

Bonnie cast her eyes to the ground and didn't speak for several moments. Finally, she looked up at Elena with a slight smile. "I guess now would be as good a time as any to tell you that Jeremy and I are back together."

Elena's face lit up, completely forgetting their depressing conversation. "Since when?"

"Not long, but," she traced the pattern of the comforter with her finger. "He told me he still loves me."

"Well, did you say it back? Wait, that's actually none of my business."

She bit her lip but ended up smiling form ear to ear. "Yeah, I did."

"Wow. You and my brother," Elena giggled. "Again. But hold on, you two didn't…. you know?"

Bonnie nodded, and her grin widened.

Elena covered her ears, shaking her head and laughing. To Bonnie, she seemed uncomfortable, but on the inside she was ecstatic. How long had she waited for the two of them to get back together? Jeremy had had a rough year without Bonnie. Maybe it was his turn to be happy.

* * *

Lucy looked away from the window, to the group gathered around the kitchen.

"You're right, Stefan," she said. "We need to find that missing page before Katherine does. I don't know how she knows about it, or who asked her to get it for them, but it doesn't matter. Right now, we need to figure out where it's hidden. It's the key to everything."

"Hidden?" Bonnie repeated.

"It was probably ripped out by someone who didn't want anyone to see it," Damon explained. "The real worry is whether or not it still exists."

"You think someone's burned it?" Stefan asked.

"It's likely."

"Let's not jump to any conclusions, people," Lucy warned them. There was still a chance that the page was out there somewhere. If any of their plans were going to work, then they were going to need that page. "We want to consider any and every possibility. Any ideas?"

Damon rolled his eyes. "Wouldn't it help if we knew what the page had on it? Because I think that you know, and I also think that you're avoiding telling us, Lucy."

The tension in the room was palpable.

Bonnie looked sideways at Lucy. "If you knew, you'd tell us, right?"

She sighed. "It's the spell which can turn the stake into a dagger. We have the stake, locked tightly in the basement. It will work on Klaus, but we need that page."

"Well then, where could it be?" Stefan asked.

"It's possible that our ancestor, Charlotte, may have ripped the page from the book years ago and hid where only we can find it. I think she left us a clue in one of my bedtime stories."

"Great," Damon muttered. "We're putting all our hope into a nursery rhyme."

"You see those trees out there?" Lucy gestured out the window, to the endless forest. "There's a cave just a hundred miles out where I used to play. That's your best chance of finding it."

Stefan nodded. "Alright. We'll head out tomorrow."

* * *

Elena bounded down the stairs, her heart beating fast and her stomach filled with nervous butterflies.

She didn't quite know what she was doing. She was just sitting in her room, alone with her thoughts, when all of a sudden, she was up and on her feet. It was like her body was controlling the actions now, not her brain.

Damon was alone when she found him in the kitchen, downing a bottle of bourbon.

"Hey," she mumbled, as calmly as she could.

He looked up, startled, as if he hadn't heard her enter. "Something you need?" he asked, flatly.

"Well, yeah. There's something we need to talk about. Do you have a minute?"

"Um." He stared down at the half-empty bottle, his eyebrows pulled tightly together. "Actually, I should go. Yeah, I need to go." Damon turned around and walked away. As Elena lurched forward to grab his arm, she realized that he hadn't looked her in the eye since she came in.

"Wait, Damon," she pleaded. "Can't I just have a _minute_?"

He stopped walking but didn't turn back around. Instead, he looked over his shoulder at her. "Can you make it quick?"

"I'll try," she answered with a hollow chuckle. "So, I've been thinking a lot lately about…"

"About?" he urged her, impatiently.

"God, Damon, what's gotten into you? Are you okay?" She stepped closer and placed her hand on his shoulder, sympathetically, but his body tensed and he shook it off. Elena's watched him, worriedly.

"I've got to go," he said again, and for the second time, sauntered off.

Elena was hurt, but also concerned. She didn't know what had come over Damon, but it wasn't good. But his moods were always shifting. So she ran forward and blocked Damon's path, putting a hand on his chest.

His eyes still refused to meet hers. "What, Elena?"

_Come on, coward,_ she thought to herself, _say it._

"I love you," she declared steadily. And as she spoke the words, she knew she'd never meant anything more. "Damon, I love you."

For the first time, Damon's eyes locked with hers and the hardness of his expression shattered into a million pieces. Involuntarily, Elena's hand lifted to cup his cheek in her palm. He placed his fingers over hers and caressed the back of her hand from wrist to fingertips.

Elena smiled gently, until his fingers stopped running over her skin and grabbed her hand rather tersely to yank it back down to her side.

Her face fell as Damon shoved away from her and left the room. Her hand stung where it had touched him, like she had slapped the surface of a pool with it. Something was definitely wrong with Damon, and it worried her. Had she overestimated what his reaction would be? She had to admit, she considered many different outcomes, but this was not one of them.

She loved Damon, and for now, that was all she could be sure of.

* * *

Caroline glanced at the door to the Grill again and again, anxiously.

She had been waiting for Tyler to come in for almost ten minutes, so it surprised her when he suddenly appeared behind her.

"Sorry, I'm late," he greeted he, kissing her cheek and sitting down across from her in the booth. "Wow, the grill's looking good, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it's hard to believe that it wasn't even here a few days ago. I was actually starting to miss this place."

Tyler smirked. "Yeah, greasy food and cheap beer. What would we do without it?"

"Let's hope we never have to find out." Caroline took a sip of her water as the waiter came by to take their order. She really wasn't hungry, and that may have been because she was slightly nervous. But there was no point in being nervous, was there? She just wasn't sure how Tyler would react when she asked him to take the hybrids to Memphis to be picked apart by witches.

"So," she began, after the waiter had left. " I need to ask a favor."

"Is everything okay?"

"Everything's fine. Better than fine, actually. You know how Damon and Elena left town after the Grill was bombed, right? Well, they met some witches who are related to Bonnie and her grams. Evidently, they're working on a brilliant plan to kill Klaus."

Tyler didn't appear overly ecstatic. "And Damon is just going along with it?"

"Oh right. I forgot about that part," Caroline added. "You see, they aren't actually killing him, just daggering him with their own hand-made dagger. So his bloodline is safe as houses."

"And what does that have to do with me?"

She remained undeterred by his lifeless reaction. "Um, Elena asked me if I could talk to you about helping them unsire the hybrids by bringing them to Memphis. The witches will help them."

"Why doesn't she just ask one of the other hybrids?" he demanded.

"Because you're already free of the sire bond, Tyler. You're the only one who can decide for yourself."

He leaned back in his chair and sighed. "Caroline… it's too risky. You and Elena don't get it. Those people aren't just hybrids to me. They're my friends. We understand each other because of that sire bond. I can't just let these random strangers pick at their brains."

"So what's _your_ plan then?" she wondered, cynically. "Make them turn a hundred times, all fifty of them? And even if you manage that, Klaus is still going to be there afterwards. This way, they can have their freedom and their revenge."

"It's more complicated than that, Caroline." He leaned back in and his voice hardened with intensity. "I don't know who to trust anymore."

"Then trust _me_, Tyler, trust the people who care about you. I wouldn't let them do this if it was going to put us or the hybrids in danger," she assured him. "But either way, those witches are going to put down Klaus. Unless you get those hybrids help before then, they're stuck sired to a dead guy forever."

Tyler's eyes flashed. "I'm sorry, Caroline." He shoved out of his chair and left the restaurant, so evasively that the next words she was going to say were left hanging on Caroline's lips.

A few moments later, the waiter came by to drop off their food.

* * *

Elena sighed, digging through her suitcase. "I'm screwed. I left all my hiking boots back at home."

"Here," Bonnie said, offering her low brown ones with black laces from across the kitchen table. "Take these. "I'll just borrow a pair from Lucy."

"Thanks." Elena knelt down and slipped the boots over her thick socks. As she stood back up and zipped up her jacket, Stefan, Damon, and Lucy came into the kitchen. Both brothers were geared up for the icy weather and carrying a small backpack, but seemed to be ignoring each other.

Lucy clapped her hands together. "So how are you all feeling?"

"Peachy," Damon retorted with a sour smile.

"Good. Now, I've given Stefan the map to the cave. It's about thirty miles west of our house. Stick together at all times and be careful, because that forest can be tricky to maneuver through."

"We'll be fine," Elena said, throwing her backpack over her shoulder.

She nodded and smiled. "Okay. Good luck."

* * *

About half an hour later, the four of them had walked almost a mile deep into the forest. Stefan and Damon were leading, while Bonnie and Elena followed their backs.

Elena didn't want to complain out loud, considering this was only about a fraction of their hike, but her feet were starting to hurt a little. Bonnie's shoes were at least half a size too small, and there were definite blisters forming on her heels and outer toes.

"We're coming up to a small stream in a few minutes," Stefan announced, his head down reading the map. "That's where we'll stop and rest a little. Also, we just hit our one and a half mile marker."

"If you have to alert us after every half mile, Stefan, then please let me know so I can rub my ears against a tree trunk until they bleed," Damon muttered.

"Alright, Damon, I'll just let you know where we are after you've fallen head first into the opening of the cave. How about that?"

Bonnie blew out a gust of air, audibly. "Can the two of you at least save your arguing till after we find the missing page? Then you can tear each other apart all you want."

They didn't answer, but they obviously agreed, because they didn't continue to argue anymore. In fact, the silence—apart from the quiet rustling of their shoes in the grass—was making Elena uncomfortable.

Luckily, the sound of rushing water broke through the air. "Is that the stream?" Elena asked, as they broke through the trees and saw the thin and shallow creek.

"Yep," Stefan answered, tossing his backpack to the base of a bush. "We'll stop here and look things over."

Bonnie sat beside Stefan under the shade of a huge maple tree and they talked over the map, pointing out different paths and trails and discussing the best route of action. It seemed as though Stefan wanted to take a short cut, but Bonnie disagreed that a longer walk would be safer.

Damon kneeled on the bank of the stream and splashed the cold water onto the back of his neck. Oddly, despite the low temperatures, he seemed completely comfortable in his slim jacket. For a moment, he just sat there, staring out into the trees. His expression was unfathomable; Elena had no guess as to what he was thinking about.

Elena threw aside her backpack after taking out her water bottle and flopped over onto her back on the hard ground. From here, she could see perfectly the bits of blue sky peeking out in between the mucky gray stratus clouds. Her fingers tugged through the grass, and she even kicked off her tight boots. The soothing sound of the trickling water caused a serene calm to fall over her body. She'd never felt this peaceful in the middle of a forest before in her life.

She hadn't even realized she had fallen asleep until Stefan's voice woke her up.

"We should get going if we're going to make it there and back in a day," he murmured. "We'll take the long way."

* * *

Tyler stepped into his house and tossed the keys angrily at the wall, not bothering to make sure that they landed on the table.

As he went into the living room, he noticed the man sitting on his couch, with his head in his hands. Tyler faintly smelled whiskey and saw the open bottle sitting on the coffee table.

"Dean?" he asked, walking around the room to sit down on the other couch. "Man, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be with Alyssa?"

Dean lifted his head up, and his eyes were wet. "Klaus called."

"And?"

He shrugged. "Somehow he figured out about Alyssa, and he was pissed. He didn't want one of his hybrids falling love with a 'bloody human'. So he gave me a choice. Either I stop seeing her, or I have to rip her throat out. Anyway, I had nowhere else to go, so I came here."

Tyler cringed, and ground his teeth together. "I'm so sorry, man. I know exactly how you feel—"

"No, you don't," he interrupted, belligerently. "You've got Caroline. And granted, it probably sucks that Klaus is into her to, but then again, it's lucky. I don't think I'd mind if Klaus suddenly fell in love with my girl, right about now. At least I could know that he would never hurt her."

"I wish there was something I could do, Dean," he sighed. Then he remembered what Caroline said.

He wasn't denying that the idea wasn't still risky, but after seeing Dean, he was reconsidering her offer. She was right. Klaus was the problem, and unsiring them by Tyler's way would not get rid of him. What was the point of all that pain, if he was still there? He would kill them all the second he found out.

He imagined what it would be like to give Dean his freedom. He would be able to see the love of his life, even if she was human. And every other hybrid that sacrificed for Klaus's sake would have redemption and, most importantly, revenge.

"Dean," he whispered. "I'm going to need your help."

* * *

"What time is it?" Elena asked, the tiredness seeping into her voice.

Bonnie checked her phone. "After two in the morning. Stefan, we need sleep. Please let us set up camp, already."

He looked back down at the map, saw that there was no possibility of making it to the cave before sunrise, and sighed. "Fine. This clearing right here will do. Two tents only. Make sure all flashlights and lanterns go out before it's too late."

"How cheerful." Damon pulled a medium-sized tent out of his bag and Elena did the same. But even with Bonnie helping her set it up, Damon finished his before she did. The two girls exchanged a wary glance of exasperation.

Damon watched them struggle with the tent poles. "Need help, ladies?"

"We're half asleep," Elena explained, indignantly. "So unless you have a queen-sized bed under your sleeve, then you can't help us."

He held up his arms defensively. "All I'm saying is that you probably want to put the door on the side, not the bottom."

Bonnie looked over their mess and growled. "Ugh. Let's just get it the best we can. It doesn't have to be perfect."

Somehow, they managed to fix the tent, properly. Within an hour, Damon and Stefan had fallen asleep in their tent and Bonnie and Elena were settling into theirs. They didn't have much to lie on but a thin mat that was barely long enough and a scratchy blanket. Elena wondered how anyone ever enjoyed camping.

"Guess I'll see you in a few hours," she muttered sleepily to Bonnie. "Make sure the lantern's out before we…" But she dozed off with a yawn before she could finish her statement.

It wasn't that much later that she woke up to the sound of footsteps outside the tents. Bonnie was sleeping soundly beside her, so she quietly slipped on her shoes and went to investigate.

Her heart skipped a beat as she noticed Damon standing with his back to her at the edge of the clearing. It reminded Elena of earlier when he was staring out into the trees, because she still had no idea what could possibly be going on inside of his head.

Now her heart was thudding rapidly as she approached him. He hadn't even looked at her since their confrontation the day before. Had he completely forgotten, or was it all he thought about? For all she knew, he didn't feel the same way anymore.

"What are you doing out here?" she murmured, her voice raspy with sleep.

Expectedly, he didn't turn around. "Getting some air. It's hard to breathe in that tent with the heavy smell of hair gel."

She smiled and hesitantly stepped forward. In her mind, she was rehearsing how she would start the conversation. _We need to talk_ didn't exactly work last time, so she decided to veto that option. Her opening statement bubbled on her lips, until he suddenly whipped around to face her.

"Were you serious?" he demanded. "Yesterday? Were you serious?"

She knew what he meant. "I was more serious than I ever have been in my entire life."

He nodded seriously.

"And it's not just because we met first," she said. "It's because you told me you loved me, and then compelled me to forget because you didn't think you deserved me. And when I remembered that night, I realized that nobody has ever done anything like that for me before."

His mouth twitched but remained a firm line. "You remembered all that?"

"Why didn't you tell me? Even after I became a vampire, I should have known."

"I didn't tell you because I wanted you to figure it out for yourself," he told her. "Then whatever feelings you had because of it would be your own."

Elena stepped forward. "They _are_ my own, Damon. I love you. And I know you love me. So why are you acting like this? Up until now, you and I had never been truly happy. And that was because we make each other happy, and I didn't realize that before. But I do now, and you're trying to screw it up. Do you still think you don't deserve this, or what? What is it?"

"Elena…" he murmured, his eyes sincere. "It's more complicating than that. This isn't a fairytale when the guy slays the dragon and gets the girl. Sometimes, the girl isn't his to love in the first place."

"So what?" she demanded. "You just have to take a chance at happiness, Damon. And it's your turn to be happy."

She took the final steps between them and placed her hands on either side of his face. He leaned in, unconscionably, and started to touch his lips to hers. But then she felt his hands move to her wait to push her away.

"I can't, Elena," he whispered, then sauntered back into his tent, leaving her alone in the darkness.

* * *

"You were right," Tyler said, excitedly, as he grabbed Caroline's hand and ushered her through the door and into the living room. "You were so right, Caroline."

"Well, I'm glad you agree, but what are you trying to show me?"

"Just a little bit further, and…here," he gestured grandly to the living room before them.

Then Caroline saw it. Or more appropriately, she saw them. Tyler's wide living area was crowded with people she'd never seen before in her life. To estimate, there were probably about three dozen different men and women standing around, talking among each other. She wasn't sure, but Caroline had a guess as to who they were.

"The hybrids," she breathed in astonishment.

"Yup." Tyler turned her around to face him, grabbing her hands. His eyes were bright with anticipation. "And there's about twenty more where those came from. We're going to do it, Caroline. We're going to free them from the sire bond."

She giggled, threw her arms around his neck, and hugged him. "Thank you. Things are going to be different now, better. I promise."

* * *

They arrived at the cave by the next morning, just as the sun peaked up over the horizon.

The passage was partially hidden under a huge boulder and a bush speckled with bright purple berries. Bonnie inspected the bush as Stefan and Damon slid the boulder away, exposing the full entrance to the cave.

"Don't eat any of these berries," she warned. "They're poisonous. Probably to protect whatever is hidden inside."

"Well, let's just hope granny Charlotte knows what she was doing," Damon remarked, and then leapt into the opening. There was a small thud as he fell for a few feet and then landed lithely on his feet. He observed the small cave. "It's empty. Come on down."

Stefan helped Bonnie slide down, and Damon caught her as she landed.

"Wow…" they heard her mumble, obviously impressed with the cave.

Then Elena bent down and hung her feet into the hole. Stefan gripped her elbows and, just before she jumped, they exchanged a loaded sorrowful glance. Then she was gone, and Damon was steadying her balance inside the cave.

She looked around at the interior of the cave. It was a circular room, about twenty feet in diameter, and the ceiling was about eight feet high. The only light was coming in from the entrance, but it was enough to see cracks and crevices in the rocky walls.

Stefan was the last to come in. "Okay, let's find this page. Check everywhere, from top to bottom."

They began tearing the place apart, in a matter of speaking, tossing aside loose rocks and pebbles and digging in the dirt about four inches deep. Stefan felt along the surface of every wall, hoping for a slit opening or anything out of the ordinary. Damon dug through the heavy piles of rocks, and Elena and Bonnie took care of the digging, which left dirt encrusted under their fingernails.

After about half an hour, Damon sat back and stopped looking. "It's not here," he muttered, sullenly.

Then everyone stopped what he or she was doing, because, in reality, they had all given up a while ago. Each person had gone over their space ten or fifteen times. But now the impact of Damon's words was like a heavy weight slamming into their chests at full speed.

For a while, it was silent as they all thought things over, or didn't think at all. Now that their entire plan was in the toilet, there were so many things to worry about. The hybrids were on their way over. So who was to say that one of them wasn't going to tell Klaus everything. He would kill them all just for planning this.

Damon pulled out his canteen and took several long sips. Bonnie looked up at him with odd curiosity.

"What's in that?" she wondered, her voice nasally like she had just been crying.

"Kool-Aid," he retorted, shortly.

She slowly lifted herself from the ground and crawled over to him. Elena expected her to take it and throw it across the cave, but she didn't. Instead, Bonnie grabbed the canteen from his hands and took a long sip of her own. It was strange, but they were all so numb that their brains probably weren't working properly.

As soon as she had drunk her share, Bonnie handed the jug to Elena. Without hesitation, she gulped it down.

The taste was fiery and rough, more than likely it was whiskey or bourbon, but it settled her nerves and clouded her vision. It made her forget what she was feeling, so she drank more.

By the end of the day, each one of them had drunk enough of Damon's alcohol to make their brains go loopy. But they were coherent enough to decide, after the temperature dropped about twenty degrees, to build a campfire under the opening so the smoke would escape the cave. After it had been loaded with enough wood, mostly branches and twigs, they sat around it in a circle.

Elena laughed insanely and without reason. "Oh my god. I see myself in the fire."

Bonnie laughed so hard she choked as she took another sip from Damon's canteen.

"Wait," Damon burst out as if he suddenly had a fantastic idea. "Let's all sing Kumbuya to the spirit people, and maybe when we get home we won't get our heads ripped off."

"What's the use, Damon," Stefan retorted, hollowly. His face was empty, but his hands were rubbing together, frantically, in his lap. "Pray all you want. It's not going to stop us from becoming Barbie dolls to a sick and twisted kid named Klaus."

"Maybe we can tape the hybrids' mouths shut," Elena managed to say between spurts of mad laugher. Again, Bonnie cracked up like she'd just heard the funniest joke in the world.

"No, you're right, Stefan," Damon said, sarcastically, pointing at him with his canteen and shrugging. "If there's really nothing we can do, and we're basically on death row, then I really should be thanking you for all the work you did to make

Katherine confess about the page in the first place."

"Shut up, Damon."

"Aw, come on, Stefan, give yourself some credit. It takes guts to sleep with Katherine. But that's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to you and the sacrifices you make for the team. Go, Stefan, go."

Stefan looked down at the ground, and then up at Elena, who was staring into the fire. She didn't want to meet his gaze, knowing there wouldn't be a trace of an apology in his eyes. Also, because she was drunk and didn't know whether she would burst out crying or throw a large rock at his head.

Damon's expression filled with mock sympathy. "I'm sorry, Stef. Was that supposed to be a secret? Oops."

"Are you ever not going to be jealous of the women I see, Damon," he replied, surprising Elena with his sudden tenacity. "Or are you going to fall in love with everyone of them."

"I need some air." Elena stood up, wobbling on her feet, before she was tempted to look at Damon's reaction and sprung out of the cave through the hole with her vampire strength.

The cold night air hit her like a wrecking ball, but she was glad to escape the uncomfortable cave. Her questions had been answered, though. Stefan had not been planning on telling her about Katherine. He would have rather dated her with that secret hanging above his head for the rest of his eternity. But he must have anticipated Damon spilling it on her at some point. Wouldn't it have been better if he had just admitted it to her face?

All alone, she sat until the sun rose again in the sky. She watched it come back, feeling so many different emotions, that it seemed like she was at the bottom of a pit and her friends and family were shoveling them over her like a burial.

Through the pain, the love, and the sadness she was feeling, somehow Elena managed to notice a change in the bush beside the entrance to the cave. There seemed to be a significantly less amount of purple berries hanging from its limbs.

* * *

In the corner of Tyler's living room, the hybrid named Levi sat and watched the others rejoice in their own excitement for what they were calling 'freedom'.

One hybrid in particular, Eddie, was sitting close next to him, stuffing his face with food from Tyler's refrigerator and babbling on and on about what he was going to do once he was unsired.

"And I've never been to the beach before, but I have been to several lakes, and one river…." Levi stopped listening out of boredom.

They were all fools. As if becoming unsired was so different from being sired. There was nothing out there for any of them. What was life if you weren't serving Klaus? It would be empty, hollow.

That was why he had to stop this plan to free all the hybrids. He would remain loyal to the man who put an end to his transformations. Every man or woman in this room owed him his or her life for what he did. And their lives he would get.

He was prepared to do whatever it took to keep the hybrids sired. And so, once they got to Memphis, he was going to kill them. Every one of those nasty witches or vampires would die at his hand, along with every hybrid that stood in his way.

Then Klaus would reward him for his loyalty.

**AN: Hope you enjoyed chapter nine! And also don't forget that the next chapter is the mid-story finale! (Kind of feel like I'm writing a newsletter or something) So keep reviewing because every one of them counts! Also in this chapter's synopsis, I took a part of it out and am putting it in the next one!**

**And now… what you've all been waiting for…. the mid-story finale…. chapter ten synopsis:**

HOUSE GUESTS- The hybrids arrive at the witches' doorstep, but not all of them have the most honest intentions, and things take a turn for the worst. Elena complains to Caroline about how it is between her and Damon, but everything changes when she discovers something that could save the day. Finally, Bonnie becomes stronger in her development with the help of Lucy.


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: Disclaimer: All rights reserved for Julie Plec and the CW! None of this cool junk is mine!**

** Here it is! The mid-story finale! Enjoy!**

* * *

Elena watched the hybrids as they circled inside and around the enormous barn behind Lucy's house, finding their friends and settling into their bunk beds. She had never really understood just how many there were. There had to at least fifty people out there, all of them dedicating their lives to Klaus.

"What are we going to do?" Caroline murmured from behind her. "Those hybrids out there are expecting us to unsire them. They're going to be so let down when they find out."

"What about us, Caroline?" Bonnie demanded, sitting beside her on Elena's bed.

Elena turned away from the window and went to stand beside them. "She's right, Car. Without that missing grimoire page, we can't kill Klaus. How do you think he's going to react when he finds out that we were planning this?"

"He won't find out."

"Really?" Bonnie asked her, sarcastically.

Elena rolled her eyes. "He _will_ find out. The hybrids can't be freed now, so what's to stop even one of them from telling him?"

Caroline sighed, and shook her head. "I never thought of it that way…" she mumbled, and then perked up. "There has to be something else we can do. We'll find it, I promise."

Bonnie and Elena exchanged a worrisome glance, but let the matter drop.

After a few minutes of silence, Caroline looked up at Elena and smiled mischievously. "So, what's up with you and Damon?"

"Caroline," Bonnie scolded.

"What?" she demanded, as if she had no idea what Bonnie meant. "Don't act so innocent, Bonnie. You know that you want to know too. Her and Damon go AWOL, Stefan sleeps with the blood-slut Elena-look-alike, Elena tells Damon she loves him, and he just waves her off like a fly. It has got to be weird between the two of them."

Elena nodded. "Things are…awkward. Like today."

"What happened today?"

* * *

Earlier that morning, Elena had finished eating the breakfast that Ash had made her—eggs and bacon—and she was climbing up the stairs and walking down the hall to her room.

Without hesitation, she swung the door open, but froze where she was in the doorway, because Damon stood at the foot of the bed, his hair wet and skin glistening, as he slid his boxers up over his knees.

He had obviously just gotten out of the shower, and was putting on his clothes when she walked in. The sight of him standing there made her gasp, but she couldn't look away. She had never seen him fully naked before, and she now realized how much she had been missing out on. As she just stood there, doing nothing, he looked at her and his eyes were unconcerned.

"Something you need?" he mumbled, uncaringly, as he began putting on his jeans.

"Um, er," she stuttered. This was also the first time she had ever been this incoherent and ungraceful. Maybe it had something to do with her newfound feelings for him, but the sight of his strong and muscled body was enough to fray the threads of any full sentences she could compose in her brain. "Uh, m—my jacket. I need my…"

Instead of embarrassing herself further, Elena hustled over to the chair by the window, yanked her jacket off of where it hung over the back, and shielded her eyes as she passed Damon again. She left immediately, shutting the door behind her.

* * *

"No way," Caroline squealed.

"You saw him _naked_?" Bonnie shouted, grinning widely with amusement.

"Shh!" Elena warned, gesturing with her hands for them to tone it down. "He might hear you from downstairs."

Caroline laughed at her. "He knows what happened, Elena. He was there, in all his butt-naked glory."

Elena blushed deeply, and fell backward onto the bed, her hands over her eyes. She was so embarrassed, even telling her best friends. She didn't want them to see her like this. They were used to the calm, cool Elena who dealt with relationships easily in every scenario. But Damon had brought out this new side to her, a side she had never seen before.

"Okay, so you're avoiding the obvious question," Bonnie said.

She uncovered her eyes. "What are you talking about?"

"Did you like it?" Caroline burst out.

"That is _so _not the point," she told them. "The point is that I finally feel the same way about him that he has felt for me for so long, and it's nothing like I expected it would be. He wasn't supposed to be this spiteful and mean and so generous to Stefan that it just makes me love him more."

Elena seemed so upset that Caroline grabbed her hand, and Bonnie rubbed her forearm. Neither of them said anything, but that was fine. There was nothing to say. Them being there was all she needed.

* * *

Levi glanced behind him at the barn that reminded him of a beehive, buzzing with activity and excitement. Disgusting, he thought to himself as he snuck behind the house and hid under a large shrub in the middle of the strange-smelling garden.

The faint sound of voices wafted to his ears from the open window. He listened harder.

It was three different women, one a little bit older than the other two. By memory of the voices that had welcomed him and the rest of the hybrids to Memphis, Levi guessed that two of them were Joanna and Lucy. The matter of subject was magic, so the third young lady must be Bonnie Bennett.

Their conversation interested him little because all he needed was to target the witches. He walked closer and peeked through the window. The women were sitting in the living room, casually, because they had no idea what was about to happen.

* * *

Elena took the pitcher of lemonade out of the refrigerator and poured herself a tall glass. Alongside of her drink, she guzzled down several ounces of Pepto-Bismol.

Someone walked into the kitchen as she sipped her lemonade.

"Hey," Stefan murmured, a sweet smile taped to his face.

Elena looked at him through and through, and in her eyes she displayed to him the phoniness of his greeting. He hadn't told her about him and Katherine, and now he was going to pretend like she still didn't know or care.

"Look, I know you're mad at me, but can't you just let me explain?" he pleaded, reaching out to take her arm.

Elena angrily shoved out of his grasp. "No, Stefan. I'm tired of hearing you beg me to let you explain. I'm tired of everything, but, most importantly, I'm tired of being tired."

The corners of Stefan's lips turned down in a frown. His eyes turned flat and stale. He knew what she was getting at. "I know it won't change anything, but I want you to know that I'm sorry."

She nodded. "You're right. It doesn't change anything."

It didn't hurt as much as she expected it would. Ever since her and Stefan fell in love about three years ago, she had wondered what it would have felt like to have to break up with him. She imagined it would feel like ripping her heart out with a thumbtack, but as it slowly sunk in, she realized that nothing hurt. Maybe it was because in her mind, Stefan and her were already broken up. She had fallen out of love with him, so it felt good to let him go.

Stefan turned on his heel and left the kitchen, leaving Elena alone to her drink. But the Pepto-Bismol was starting to look better, so she dumped it down the drain and gulped more of the bright pink liquid.

Ash walked in a few moments after Stefan had left, hunting for a snack. As he snagged a box of crackers out of the cabinet, he glanced at Elena.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I think I am," she replied, softly. "Stefan and I are over."

He laid down the crackers and wrapped his arms around her waist in a comforting hug. "I'm so sorry," he murmured. "How did it happen?"

She leaned back. "I just realized that you can love someone for so long, but it doesn't matter if you have nothing in common with them. And Stefan and I grew apart. There was nothing we could do about it."

Something in what she said triggered an undetectable emotion in his eyes, but he quickly got rid of it. "Well, I'm here if you need anything. Even if you just need a friend to talk to, okay?"

Elena had never noticed before just how much Ash and Matt were alike. It was amazing how two cousins could act like brothers, in a way. Watching Ash's facial expressions and feeling his steady warmth as he hugged her, she remembered Matt and how he was always there for her on her worst days.

She decided to take him up on his offer, and several hours later, they were still in the kitchen, talking.

Ash had his knees pressed to his chest up on the counter, and Elena sitting cross-legged beside him, leaning her head against the counter, laughing nonstop. It was hard to remember the last time she had spent so much time just talking to one person and having this much fun. It triggered so many memories.

"What about the science teacher?" he wondered, still on their previous subject.

"Mr. Malone?" she smiled. "No way. He was the worst one of them all. I remember he used to bring you up to the front of the class and ask tons of questions that we never learned the answer to."

"And the forecast called for 100% chance of his spit _all_ over your face."

"Oh yeah." Elena looked away and caught sight of the clock on the oven. Her eyes widened. "Do you realize we've been talking for over two and a half hours?"

"Whoa," he checked behind him to make sure she was correct. "You're right. Uh, listen. There's something I have been wanting to tell you since you got here, but I was kind of afraid of how you would react."

"Just tell me," she urged him.

He took a deep breath. "Well, you know that year when you, me, and Matt hung out all the time? I sort of had this huge crush on you, but I never did anything about it because I knew Matt liked you too."

Elena gasped, quietly and under her breath. "Really? You should have told me anyway. Matt and I didn't start going out till sophomore year. If I had known…"

"I know, I know. But I was young and stupid and very afraid of girls, especially pretty ones like you. So, I kept my mouth shut. Probably the single stupidest thing I have ever done. After I moved away, I always wondered what would have happened if I told you how I felt. Maybe I would be the one you were in love with."

Elena had no idea what to say. From the sound of it, it seemed as if Ash still had these supposed feelings. What if he did? What if he never stopped liking her after all this time? Their friendship back then had been so fun and simple. But nothing in her life was simple these days.

Ash looked at her, and locked in her eyes. She knew what he was about to do, and she was strangely okay with it. She understood that kissing her might help clear his mind and help him make sense of how he felt about her. Also, it was something he had been waiting to do since they were twelve.

He leaned in and gently pressed his lips to hers, nothing special or romantic. Elena didn't fight him or push him away. In fact, kissing Ash made her think clearer than she had in the last few weeks. She thought about Damon, how she wished he were kissing her instead of Ash.

And then something else came to her mind. She remembered them looking for the missing page in the cave yesterday, and how, as she searched the back corner, she had felt something.

It wasn't anything big, but it could be important. Her hands felt along the base of the wall, just where the floor met the side of the cave, and her fingers got caught on a niche in the rock. It was such a small hole, as big around as her thumb, so she had moved on, not giving it another thought.

But what if that had been a huge mistake?

* * *

"More tea?" Lucy offered Bonnie.

"Yes, please." She sat up straighter, hoping she was acting proper enough. Bonnie had never been to a tea before, though this hardly counted as one. "So my Grams was a part of this community? How did I never know about this?"

Joanna sipped her tea. "She was sworn to secrecy, all of us were. There was nothing she could say, not even to you. But you were all she talked about, Bonnie. You meant a lot to her."

Lucy scoffed. "Yeah, for years we had to listen to 'Bonnie still thinks I'm a drunken psycho' and then it came to 'Bonnie believed me today and she understands that she is a very talented witch from a very powerful family'. So basically, we were there with you as your powers developed."

"If she were here today," Joanna said. "She would be very proud of you."

"Speaking of," Lucy jumped in, setting down her teacup. "We want to teach you the certain type of magic that we practice. It's specific only to our line of witches, still linked to the spirits, and very strong."

Bonnie smiled. "I'd be honored to learn the same magic my Grams used. But I'm not sure how much longer my friends and I will be staying here since we couldn't find the missing page."

Before either of them could answer, Elena came bounding into the room, eagerly. By the expression on her face, Bonnie knew that whatever it was she needed to say was not bad news at all.

"Elena?" Joanna gasped, startled.

"What's wrong?" Lucy was more controlled and very serious.

When she spoke, her voice was breathless. "We need to go back to the cave."

* * *

Elena followed Damon through the forest, the sound of their solitary footsteps echoing in her mind.

Why did it have to be just the two of them?

They were almost to the cave by now. The second trip had seemed to go by much faster, but also slower in the same way. The awkwardness between them was intense enough to make the time drag by slower to Elena. But when she checked the clock on her phone, she realized that they had beat their last time by over two hours.

Maybe it was because Damon would not allow her to stop at any point for her to rest, even though her shins ached and her hair was sticking to the back of her neck from the humidity left by the last rain.

She would ask him occasionally to stop for just a moment, but he would always reply with "We need to keep going if we want to get to the cave as quickly as possible," or avoid the question by asking her another question such as "Where did you say you felt the niche?"

She didn't understand why Bonnie couldn't have come with them. Of course Stefan had opted out, explaining that he wanted to stay and keep an eye on the hybrids, which was completely understandable. But Bonnie had made up a silly excuse, but Elena called her out on it. She wouldn't tell her the real reason, only saying that she needed to talk to Lucy and Joanna about something important.

So that left her and Damon, and despite the fact that he hardly spoke more than ten words to her, he would not let her go without his protection.

"There's the poison berry bush," she pointed out as they came upon the large boulder.

"And the big rock," he murmured, sucking on his top lip. "This must be it."

* * *

Lucy set down the candle in front of Bonnie on the coffee table.

"Could you dim the lights?" she asked Stefan, who was leaning in the doorway to the living room, quietly observing as Lucy sat down and grabbed Bonnie's two hands.

"Now, Bonnie, there are a few particular spells we will be needing your help with down the road, depending on whether Elena and Damon bring back that page. But for now, we'll start off with something easy, something you probably already know how to do with different magic. You're going to levitate a feather."

A giggle burst through her lips, cutting through the mood of the dark, candle-lit room and Lucy's soft voice. "I'm sorry," she apologized. "But I've been able to levitate a feather since I was sixteen."

"Not the way you are about to do," Lucy explained. "Listen carefully. Our magic feeds off of the memory of someone you love, someone who is no longer with us. This is the only way the spirits can differentiate between the good and the bad, because any bad would witch would not be capable of a love strong enough to levitate the feather. I think of my own grandmother Charlotte. Most of us do, actually. But I have a feeling you will choose someone different."

Bonnie nodded. "My Grams."

"Good. Focus on her. Focus on what she would look like, say, and do if she were standing in this living room with us now."

She did. So many memories flashed before her eyes of when she was a child and her mother was not there, but her Grams was. So many times that she couldn't talk to her dad about girl things or even witch things, so she came to her Grams. She so understood all the time. It made Bonnie hope to be as kind and caring as she had been.

Bonnie concentrated enough so that, when she blinked, her late grandma appeared in the corner, sitting in the rocking chair. Her grams smiled warmly at her and whispered, "You can do this, child."

"Bonnie," Lucy whispered. "Open your eyes."

Her eyelids fluttered open, and she watched as the single white feather floated inches above the surface of the coffee table.

"I did it," she breathed.

Lucy opened her mouth to say something, but before she could, a shot rang through the air, and bonnie screamed. A small syringe plunged into the side of Lucy's neck, and she immediately fell backwards to the ground, unconscious.

The front door flew open, slamming into the wall, and a man Bonnie didn't recognize but guessed was a hybrid walked in, holding a knife to Joanna's neck with one hand and a long-barreled gun in his other hand.

Bonnie jumped up and went to stand beside Stefan, partially blocking Lucy's limp body from the man with the knife.

"You," he barked, pointing to Stefan with his gun. "Go away. Get out of here. I don't want to have to kill you because you got in my way. I have no problem with you."

"Then what the hell is your problem, Levi?" Stefan demanded, stepping as close as he could. "What are you doing?"

"I'm doing what none of the other assholes in that barn have the guts to do," he yelled, his face turning red. "I'm protecting Klaus's life. After these moron witches unsire me, I'll be hypnotized, unable to see right from wrong. I won't want to help him anymore like I do now."

"Right from wrong?" Bonnie repeated, confusedly. "Hypnotize? We're just trying to help you people get your freedom back. Isn't that what you want?"

Stefan shot her a warning glance, and she realized that she should not have talked at all.

Levi's face turned from red to purple and he shifted his gaze and his gun to aim at her. "Shut up, you stupid bitch! Just shut up, before I rip your head off. I'm not after you either, but I can easily change my mind."

Stefan looked at Lucy's sleeping form. "What did you do to her?"

"Oh this?" he wondered, gesturing to his gun. "This is just something I picked from that freak-ass garden of theirs. I tested out the different plants on the other witch, the smart mouth one. I took the one that put her out and concentrated it into a lethal dose, enough to keep her unconscious for hours."

"What did you do to Pauline?" Joanna spit from under Levi's knife. "If you laid a hand on her, I swear—"

Levi laughed, cutting her off. "She's not the one you have to worry about, old woman." He released her and pushed her forcefully away from her where she stumbled over Lucy's leg and Bonnie caught her and held her up.

Levi ran the blade of the knife along the barrel of the gun, creating a shrieking metallic sound. "Now, who do I kill first?"

* * *

Elena jumped into the cave and landed in the leftover charred remains of their campfire the day before. Damon's hand flew up to steady her, but he pulled it away as quickly as possible.

As soon as she gained her balance, Elena rushed over to the corner where she remembered the slight imperfection had been while kissing Ash. She was aware of Damon's presence behind her as she kneeled at the base of the wall, her heart thundering furiously.

It seemed like time shifted into slow motion as she lightly traced along the wall until her finger found the crevice that fit her thumb perfectly.

"I got it," she said to Damon.

Then, Elena shoved her thumb in and pushed against the rock. The inside of the hole moved back and something clicked behind it.

All of a sudden, in the middle of the cave floor, a circle appeared in the ground, which then rose upward, turning into a solid rock pedestal that Elena had somehow never noticed until now. As it escalated to the height of Elena's waist, it made a stone-grinding sound, until it finally stopped.

"Is that…? " Damon murmured, pointing to what sat atop the pedestal.

Elena nodded; her whole body was shaking like she had just drunk five cups of coffee. "I think so."

There, just lying there, was one piece of old, yellowing paper with many lines of inky calligraphy written on it, along with a hand-drawn picture.

As they moved closer so as to see it better, Elena realized that she had seen a piece of paper similar to this one many times before in Bonnie's grimoire. This was a recipe to a certain spell. But what sold it for her was the torn edge, like it had been ripped from its book.

His eyes wonderstruck, Damon raised his hand to pick up the page.

As soon as his skin made contact with the paper, the entire cave began shaking like there was an earthquake shocking the ground they stood on. Dust rained down from the cave ceiling and the rays of sun coming in from the opening slowly began to dim as the boulder moved over, by itself, to close it.

"No!" Damon shouted as he dropped the page and ran forward till he was directly underneath the entrance. He began jumping with his fists banging against the underneath of the boulder. Nothing happened. It didn't move.

Finally, after almost ten minutes of him furiously beating against the rock, Damon stopped and sank to the ground.

Elena stood there, frozen with fear. "We're tapped."

* * *

Joanna brushed her fingers against Lucy's cheek, and then looked up at Levi. "I'll go first."

Bonnie looked at Stefan, hoping to transmit some sort of a plan through their eyes. They just had to take down Levi and hope none of the other hybrids were working with him. But he had a powerful weapon against Bonnie, and could easily bite Stefan, as well. So who was to decide who would make the first attack?

Stefan nodded at her in a way that told her he would do it.

"I just need a distraction," she murmured as softly as she possibly could.

Joanna stood up and hesitantly walked forward. Levi waved her on with his knife, impatiently.

But as Bonnie watched Stefan flash with lightening speed around the entire room and catch Levi by surprise by kicking him in the side, she reached over to yank Joanna backward behind her.

Levi flew back into the poles on the staircase, knocking a few of them out and snapping them into two pieces. But he quickly stood back up with his fangs bared and yellow eyes gleaming. Bonnie's heart stuttered erratically as he jumped to Stefan.

"Oh, please be careful Stefan," she whispered to herself. Then she turned around to Joanna. "Take Lucy and find Pauline. Get them both to a safe area that's well hidden and stay there."

She nodded, tears lines striping her face. With her arms and legs shaking, she managed to hoist Lucy under her arm and drag her feet across the ground and disappeared out of the destroyed door.

Meanwhile, Stefan and Levi were struggling against each other's strengths on the ground. Stefan had one of the broken posts and tried furiously to drive the jagged end into Levi's chest, but he was blocking him well. Levi was also biting at the air with his fangs, hoping to connect with any part of Stefan's skin.

Bonnie knew that it wouldn't be long before Levi bit him, and then he would be dead. One small bite, and he would be gone within a few days.

_Stefan, please_, she thought to herself, _please hold him just a little longer_.

She had to act as fast as she could. Bonnie reached into her jacket pocket and held up a handful of slightly mushy bright purple berries that she had picked from the bush just outside the cave opening. She knew they would need them at some point.

Somehow, her legs carried her forward with a surge of adrenaline over to where the two of them were fighting. Levi had Stefan pinned to the ground, which was actually the perfect position for her to wrap her arms around his neck from behind. Before he had time to react, she clasped her hand to his mouth and pinched his nose. The berries were forced down his throat.

Immediately, Levi began choking and gagging on the poison that riddled his body. Their acids clogged his throat and made breathing impossible. Soon, his skin flushed almost the same color of the berries. Stefan easily pushed him aside and he fell onto his back, eyes bulging from their sockets.

Stefan stood up next to Bonnie as they watched Levi horrifically suffocate.

The hybrid lay there making no sounds, not even a heartbeat. After a beat of silence, Stefan turned to Bonnie.

"How is he dead?" he asked, warily. "We didn't cut off his head or rip out his heart. What did you give him?"

She held up her palm, which was stained with the leftover juices. "You remember that poison berry bush that we found in the woods?"

He turned back to Levi. "Oh." Then he bent down and tossed his dead body over his shoulder. "Let's get rid of the body before any of the other hybrids find him and we have an even bigger problem on our hands."

* * *

Elena paced the width of the cave. "How can this be happening?"

"Apparently, the cave is spelled to lock anyone in once they find the page," Damon answered, his whole body pressed against the wall, lazily. "You can thank Lucy's crazy grandmother for that."

"We're going to die here," she cried. "We're going to die, aren't we?"

"Relax," he placated her, seemingly unaffected by the situation. How about this? If it comes down to it, you can eat me for strength."

She sighed. "Seriously, though. What's going to happen to us?"

"Well, when we don't get back in the next two days, surely someone will come to find us. We'll be fine."

"That's not what I meant," she murmured, softly.

He looked away. "Nothing, just like always."

"It doesn't have to be that way," she said, her pacing suddenly stopped and she looked at Damon, her eyes sincere. "If you love me like I think you do, Damon, then nothing should stand in the way of us being together. Not your ego, not my overemotional tendencies, which are actually on overdrive right now considering the fact that we may not ever get out of here."

He glanced at her, and squinted his eyes. "Are you crying?"

Her hand automatically flew up to her face to wipe away the tears that were building up in her eyes. "Does this ever go away? That feeling like I want to completely break down over spilled milk?"

"Give it some time," he assured her.

"If we have any," she mumbled, her gaze flickering to the closed entrance. When she looked back at Damon, she had the intention to laugh, but then she watched him and wondered if they were going to die without ever being truly happy together. And the thought made her face crumple.

For the first time since they had been trapped, Damon's face showed substantial signs of concern as he watched her cry. He pushed away from the wall and walked up to her, using the sleeve of his jacket to dab at her tears.

"We have time, Elena," he consoled her, under the impression that that was why she was weeping. "You're going to get out of here even if I have to claw through solid rock. And then we'll put a dagger in Klaus and get on with our lives. You and Stefan will be very happy together." With an artificial smile, he turned away from her.

"We broke up," she whimpered, or at least it sounded that way through the uncontrollable crying. As hard as she tried to bite back the tears, they still kept coming.

"Why would you do that?"

"Does it matter? He's not who I want to be with. And he's not who you want me to be with, as hard as you try to deny it sometimes."

He whirled back around, his eyes suddenly livid. "Yes, I do. I want you to be with him because he is what's good for you, Elena. God knows you could use a little healthy in your life."

"I asked you what you want," she blubbered. "I asked you what you want and you said that you wanted me to get everything I was looking for. So don't tell me that _that_ is what you want, because I know it's not the truth. But I don't know why you even bother lying in the first place. Wouldn't it be simpler if you just… didn't?"

"You want to know why? It's because I blame you, Elena."

"Blame me?"

His whole body seemed to be fuming. "Yes, because from the moment I looked at you and realized that I couldn't live without you, I finally understood that there was more to life than just me. I knew I had a purpose; that I was stupid to be so angry with Stefan for making me turn when there was a reason for it all along. And it all started when I looked at you and fell in love. So, yeah, I blame you."

Elena blinked, her tears no longer falling. He had said that he loved her, in so many words. But that was exactly what she had been waiting to hear. It felt like she had been underwater for so long, but now she was breaking the surface and filling her lungs with the fresh air. But above all, the feeling of loving someone who loved you back overwhelmed her.

Completely ignoring the part of her brain that warned her not to, she grabbed his neck and kissed his still lips, hoping for a response. But he just stood there, unmoving, while her mouth gingerly closed over his again and again.

Then, out of nowhere, he began kissing her back. And if she thought just the touch of his lips on hers was amazing, then it was nothing compared to what it felt like for him to move with her. He gripped her face between his hands and blew his hot breath into her mouth, almost swallowing her bottom lip. His tongue made contact with hers a few times, and his teeth bit down on her numerous times. Anywhere that his skin met hers, there were goose bumps.

Somehow, Elena's back had been pressed to the cave wall and his hands tangled in her hair. Her thoughts were jumbled and erratic, but she managed to wonder how she had wasted the first eighteen years of her life not kissing Damon. She felt like they were flying, just the two of them, no longer on the ground.

All of a sudden, the cave's darkness was cut in half by the rays of sunlight that escaped when the boulder was moved aside. Elena and Damon broke apart as Bonnie's head poked through the entrance.

"Need some help?" she asked, dubiously, eyeing the way that Damon was holding Elena against him.

She grabbed Damon's hand and dragged him over to the spot below the opening. Bonnie made eye contact with her and Elena laughed. "Shut up."

* * *

"You shouldn't be here for this, Damon," Lucy muttered to him, who was standing in the doorway to the living room, staring at Elena from where she sat with a mischievous grin. "It'll help her to do the first session alone."

"Have you ever done this kind of spell before?" he asked, avoiding her question with another question.

"No, but I know a little bit more about this than you do, so shall I go on?"

He motioned toward the room. "Please."

Lucy sighed and went to sit across from Elena, lighting the candles and incense with matches. "Are you sure you want to do this, Elena? Channeling is very tricky business."

"Of course," she answered. "What's a better way to celebrate you turning the stake into a dagger than getting right to work?"

She nodded, and her face became completely smooth and serious. Her head bent down and a string of unrecognizable Latin words came pouring out in her voice. Before she had time to think about Klaus or focus on his face or anything she needed to do, something happened inside of her.

Elena wasn't sure, but she thought it felt like her insides were rearranging, her very molecules shifting into something different. Her mind was infiltrated with thoughts that weren't her own, dark and evil thoughts. She closed her eyes as a steady stream of magic flowed into her from Lucy's casting and it made her shiver.

Lucy stopped in the middle of her spell and looked up at Elena with a gasp. Damon stepped forward for a closer look.

When Elena's eyes opened again, they were as black as midnight.

**AN: You like? Well that was the mid-story finale! Hope it lived up to your expectations! Also, I want to let you know that I would love to hear any of your opinions through private messaging or if you just have something to say about my story, TVD, Delena, and yada yada! Oh, and before I post chapter eleven, there will be a short break! **

** But for right now, here is the synopsis:**

_**GETTING THE BALL ROLLING-Damon and Elena express their relationship in every way possible, but it becomes difficult as Elena begins channeling Klaus. Lastly, Bonnie gets into some trouble that she shouldn't and needs Caroline's help to wane her interests.**_


	11. Chapter 11

"Is it working?" Elena asked, as she watched Lucy, Damon, and now Bonnie stare at her with a mixture of wonder and fear on their faces.

Surprising everybody in the room, Lucy laughed loudly, a reassuringly delighted sound. "Yes, it's working. It's working better than we ever could have expected, Elena. But don't move yet. Just keep focusing, exactly like you've been doing."

Bonnie looked up at Lucy, and then Damon, shrugging with a relieved smile. Neither of them had any idea if her pitch black eyes were a good sign or a bad one. And when she first saw her open them, a shrill of terror had ran down her spine. Somehow, in a horrifying way, Elena's eyes had reminded her of Klaus, which was pretty much exactly what they were trying to accomplish.

Elena nodded and closed her eyes again. It was completely silent for a few moments, until Lucy sighed.

"We're loosing it, Elena. You can't stop focusing."

"I'm not," Elena frantically assured her. "I just… It's a bit harder than you think."

Lucy's forehead scrunched up in thought. "Try this. Instead of concentrating on Klaus himself, think about how much of Klaus lives inside of you already. I'm talking about your rage, your hate, and your desires. Pick something and focus on that."

Everyone watched Elena as she suddenly disappeared from the room, mentally. All of a sudden, it was like she was in a different place entirely. Whatever she was concentrating on took over her senses and sent her away.

Bonnie could feel Lucy relax from beside her. It was working.

"Very good, Elena," she complimented, and then turned to Bonnie. "You and Damon go prepare the hybrids, and we'll get started."

She got up and walked side by side with Damon out the door.

"Does anything about this seem weird to you?" he asked her as they crossed the grass in the direction of the barn.

"Not really. Maybe, why?"

He shrugged. "Just checking."

Bonnie smiled and watched Damon yank on the metal latch of the tall barn doors and swing them wide open. Every time she saw the inside of this building, she gaped in surprise. It didn't matter how many times you went in, the sheer size of it would astound you. It was big and tall enough to house about two dozen bunk beds and leave plenty of legroom.

The hybrids were all awake for the most part, making their beds and replacing their shirts. Some of them were laughing with each other, playfully pushing and kicking. From what she saw, it was hard for her to believe that these hybrids could be frightening or deadly like Levi had been. But maybe he was just a hybrid gone bad, and this was what was really underneath the violent exteriors.

"Wow, there's more of them than I thought," she murmured under her breath.

"Great, Bonnie," he retorted. "That makes me more comfortable letting Elena near them."

"I was just saying—"

"I got it," he interrupted, taking a step forward to pick up leaf rake that was buried under a pile of hay. He poised it in his hands and slammed the wrought iron tongs against a fire hydrant that was hanging off the wall. It created a loud ringing noise that rang shrill in the echo of the barn and had Bonnie covering her ears.

The hybrids became silent instantly and turned to find the source of the noise. A few of them even seemed scared. But when they saw the two of them standing in the doorway, they relaxed.

"Listen up," Damon shouted. "For all those willing to be free of the sire bond, get your asses outside and line up in an orderly fashion in the yard. Are we clear?"

There were quiet murmurings of agreement from the crowd.

Damon looked back over his shoulder at Bonnie. "Go back in the house and tell Lucy we're ready for them."

She nodded. "No regrets?"

"Not yet."

* * *

Elena slowly leaned her head out the door to peek at the backyard. Damon, Bonnie and Lucy were standing before the hybrids, who were lined up in rows and columns, almost taking up the whole yard. One of them locked eyes with her, and she jerked back inside.

She knew everyone was waiting for her to come out, but she couldn't force herself to take the first step. How was she supposed to train them into obeying her every command? How does someone do that? To be quite honest, she didn't even know where to start.

After a few minutes, Damon came in through the open door and leaned against the wall next to her.

"You okay?" he wondered, sympathetically.

She shrugged. "I'm going to embarrass myself out there no matter what I do."

"Just get out there and tell those hybrids who's boss."

She chuckled, loosening up, and wrapped her arms around his waist. "You know what? I will. But you have to be there with me the whole time."

"You bet." He kissed her lightly, just barely touching his mouth to hers.

Then he took her hand and led her out the door and into the yard.

It felt like she was on stage under bright spotlights in front of a crowd of parents and friends and family, but she couldn't remember her lines. She froze, her throat went thick, and her tongue went dry as every hybrid stared directly at her face.

Lucy stepped closer to whisper in her ear. "You've gotten through the channeling part, beautifully, Elena. Now just give them an order and you'll see how easy this is going to be."

She nodded and faced the crowd. "Um, s—sit down!"

"Elena, they're not puppies," Damon murmured sideways. "What would Klaus tell them to do?"

"He would probably tell them to rip their own fingernails off," she mumbled. Damon looked at her as if she was missing something obvious. "No, no way. I'm not telling them to do that. It's barbaric."

"It's the only way to test it out for sure."

She sighed, shook her head, and took a deep breath. "Can you all…rip your fingernails off, please?"

Every hybrid's face contorted in anger and betrayal. They turned to each other in horror.

"What the hell?"

"She's crazy."

"There's no way I'm doing that."

"Hey!" she screamed over the crowd. "Shut up and do it!"

Damon glanced at her with wide eyes. Obviously, he had no idea that she was capable of being even the slightest bit harsh, so this surprised him. She smirked back at him, with no shame.

But her smile faded as she heard the groans and cries from the crowd and turned to see that each one of them had bright red lines of blood dripping down to their elbows as they dug into healthy skin with their teeth to tear off their fingernails.

Elena gasped. "Wait. Stop. You can stop now!"

Some of them fell to their knees in relief as they quit hurting themselves and the wounds began to heal.

"That was terrible," she whispered to Damon.

"Well at least we know two things," he whispered back. "One: the sire bond is working."

"And two?"

He leaned down to her level and looked her in the eye with a sly grin. "You're a badass, Elena."

Her breath caught in her throat as she read what his face was implying. This was completely new territory for her. There had never been these spontaneously passionate moments when she was with Stefan. In fact, she had never felt this much attraction to anyone in her entire life. Her skin itched to touch his, and her heart was anxiously thundering for her to kiss him.

"Lucy," she called, never breaking their gaze. "I think we're going to have to finish this up tomorrow. I need a break."

Somehow, Elena detected a smile in her voice. "Alright, I'll take care of the rest. Have fun on your _break_."

She knew it was rude, wrong, and slightly neglectful to just leave the hybrids in the middle of their first session, but she couldn't find the will to care as her and Damon went back into the house and he scooped her up in his arms and carried her up the stairs to their bedroom.

Their lips were together almost immediately following the shutting of the door. She threw off his jacket and tossed it aside, leaving only a thin t-shirt for her to run her fingers under. They stumbled backwards until Elena could feel the wall pressing against her shoulders blades. Damon's hands were in her hair until he slid them down to yank her shirt over her head. Then his hands roamed over her back, lower and lower. She wrapped her leg around his waist.

He gripped her thigh and pulled her other leg around him as well. After that, they were flying, just a few short paces to the bed where she was straddling his pelvis, and kissing him with his hot breath filling her mouth and clouding her mind. She could feel his hands in her back pockets, pulling her pants to her ankles until she heard them hit the floor. Her lips moved to his neck, then down his chest, and back to his lips.

Hours went by of their legs tangling together under the sheets. The sun went down and less and less light came in through the window, but they could hardly notice.

Elena couldn't think about anything that wasn't Damon. Her senses were overwhelmed with his tingling touch, his sweet smell, the softness of his hair, his perfect chest, and the sound of his voice when he whispered, "I love you."

* * *

Bonnie balanced the silver tea tray in her hand and knocked lightly on the door across the hall from her room, the one that she had never been inside of before. Her stomach rolled, nervously.

"Come in," said Pauline's wary voice.

Bonnie pushed open the door and saw the young dark-haired witch lying in her bed in a plain white room, with a bandage wrapped around her head and right hand. She also had a few cuts and bruises on her arms and a black eye.

"I brought you some tea," she smiled, setting the tray down on her bedside table. "If you're thirsty."

She nodded, and gestured weakly to the padded seat beside her. "You can sit there."

She sat down and poured two cups of tea, adding in the proper amount of sugar to Pauline's that Joanna had allowed her prior. She gingerly placed the cup in Pauline's injured hand.

"How are you feeling?" she asked. "Is the pain any better?"

"Joanna ripped me up some herbal leaves for the pain, but they make my memory of the night the hybrid attacked me fuzzy, which I guess isn't all that terrible."

"Good," Bonnie said, not exactly sure how to reply. She took a sip of her tea.

Pauline watched at her and sighed. "Look, I know you think I'm just your grandma's bitchy niece, and you only came in here to check on me on my sick bed because Joanna and Lucy told you that I have information about my aunt that you want to know."

Bonnie glanced at the floor, and then smiled sheepishly. "Please, Pauline. I'm not sure how well you knew her, but I hardly had any time with her as a witch before she died. There are so many questions I had for her. If there's anything you can give me…"

"How old are you, Bonnie?" she asked suddenly.

"Um, eighteen."

She nodded. "You know, I'm not much older than you, but you do remind me a lot of myself back when my mother first told me about my powers. I was so frightened by the idea and eager to learn at the same time. The trouble of being a Bennett witch is that no matter how much you don't want the responsibility, it's your destiny to accept it."

Bonnie contemplated what she said in wonder.

"There's not much I can give you about your Grams," she continued. "A few of her own home remedy spells are in that drawer over there, along with her talisman."

She stood up and went over to the desk that Pauline was referring to and opened the bottom drawer. Inside were only a few crinkle pieces of paper that Bonnie recognized were torn from her grandmother's favorite cookbook and scribbled on in black ink pen, a short sliver chain linked with a small pendant that had the witches' symbol engraved with opal, and a thin brown leather journal.

"What's this?" she asked, holding up the journal.

Pauline saw it and balked. "That's not yours, Bonnie."

"Was it my grams' journal? Did she keep a journal?"

"Put it back, Bonnie," she instructed, harshly. "That is her own private diary. She wouldn't have wanted anybody to read it. I myself have never even opened the cover. And you should do the same. Now take the necklace and the spells and be on your way. I'm tired."

Bonnie turned back to the drawer, pocketed the necklace, tucked the pieces of paper under her arm, and glanced back at Pauline. Her eyes were already shut and her breathing was slow and even. So Bonnie quickly snatched the diary and left the room.

* * *

Elena lay still on the bed next to Damon, his arms wrapped around her comfortingly. The morning sunlight warmed her bare skin and she smiled. For a brief moment, she wondered if this was the first time Damon had slept in this bed since they arrived.

"What time do you think it is?"

"Shh," he hushed her, pressing his lips to her shoulder. "Don't ruin the moment."

"I'm sorry, but I don't know how early Lucy wanted me to get up so we could train the hybrids some more—"

He interrupted her by swinging her body around so that he was above her, and she giggled as he starting kiss along her neck. "Stop, stop, stop," he said, the sound muffled against her skin. "You are taking a sick day."

She laughed more as he kissed down to her collarbone, and she rolled them over to wedge her knee in between his legs. Her hands traced his ribs and she touched her lips gently to his chest. She hadn't even realized how much pressure she was actually giving until he winced.

"What's wrong?" she asked, worriedly.

"It's nothing."

Then she felt a few drops of warmth underneath her fingertips and she looked down to see the deep bite mark in his skin on the left side of his sternum, right where she had been kissing.

"Oh my god. Did I hurt you?" she demanded.

He shook his head, nonchalantly. "Look, it's already healing."

"I'm so sorry, Damon, I didn't even realize I was biting you."

"It's okay, Elena, I sort of expected something like this to happen," he assured her. "I mean your eyes are still black."

This made her pause. "What?" She scrambled out from under the covers and ran to look in the mirror on the wall hanging above the short dresser. Just as Damon had said, her eyes were no longer brown but black. A very, very dark black.

"What the hell is wrong with my eyes?" she yelled, panicking.

From the corner of her reflection, she watched him sit up and swing his legs over the side of the bed. "Relax, Elena. It's from channeling Klaus. Your eyes turn black from having his essence or something."

"And you're just okay with that?" she bellowed. "You were okay with us having sex when my eyes were black?"

"Elena, it's no big deal."

"Of course it's a big deal, Damon. I could have hurt you. From now on, we can't so much as kiss until this whole channeling thing is behind us. Got it?"

"Hold up," he said, loudly. "You're cutting me off because of a stupid _bite mark_?"

"Yes, I am." She turned around and disappeared into the closet.

"It's never going to work," he called after her, but she just smiled and shut the closet door behind her.

* * *

"Hey," Caroline said to Bonnie as she popped into the kitchen with a smile. "How's it going?"

Bonnie inspected her overly happy expression. "What has you so giddy?"

She shrugged. "It's just one of those days. Why do you look like you wish you never woke up this morning?"

"It's one of those days," she answered, glumly, then nodded toward her grandmother's diary, which was sitting on top of the coffee maker. "I stole my grams' diary from Pauline's room and now I'm contemplating whether I should read it or not."

"Not," Caroline immediately decided. "Those are her personal private thoughts, Bonnie. Would you want your granddaughter reading through a detailed description of your first time with Jeremy?"

Bonnie's jaw dropped. "You know about that?"

She couldn't stop herself from smiling and jumping up and down. "Yep. Elena told me. I'm so happy for you guys. You two are like the perfect couple, behind me and Tyler, of course."

"Of course," Bonnie rolled her eyes, jokingly. "So what are you up to?"

"I thought I'd go take a walk. It's been a while since I've been close to nature; it will be good for me to get some fresh air."

She nodded. "Have fun."

"I will." She grabbed the coffee pot and filled up a silver thermos. As she put it back, she glanced at the diary. "And don't read that thing. Seriously."

"Of course not." But as Caroline disappeared out the door, she yanked the diary off of the coffee maker and ran upstairs to her bedroom.

* * *

Caroline gulped down the last drops of her cold coffee and made her way back towards the house. As she neared the back entrance, she passed by the hybrid training.

Elena was snaking through the rows of hybrids, slowly, as they two of them stood at the front, wrestling each other. But it was an odd fight, and when she looked closer at Elena, she understood. Elena's lips were moving, murmuring orders to one of the hybrids as he tackled the other. Each move he made was against his will, yet he was winning.

Caroline waved to Elena as she passed through and went inside the kitchen, and when she waved back, she noticed something else.

Bonnie was sitting on the couch in the living room, her head bent down over an open book. She didn't notice Caroline coming in.

"What is with Elena's eyes?" she wondered, tossing her jacket and empty thermos aside and plopped down into an armchair. "Like is that forever or just when she's in Klaus-mode."

She wondered if Bonnie even heard her.

"Bonnie?" she snapped. "Hey Bonnie!"

Bonnie finally looked up at Caroline, but her expression showed that she had heard her the first time. But it also reminded Caroline of a child, waiting to be punished for writing on the wall or breaking a vase.

"I'm a terrible person," she murmured.

For the first time, Caroline looked down at what Bonnie was reading and recognized her grams' leather-bound diary. She gasped. "You _read_ it? You read the diary?"

She nodded. "But it was so worth it, Caroline. The things I learned from these pages… It's enlightening."

"Well you better have a photographic memory then, because I'm taking this away from you." She reached out and ripped the book from Bonnie's grasp. "If only your grams were here right now to see what you've done."

"I'm sorry. I was just hoping I would find something in there about my mom," she mumbled looking down.

Caroline whirled around, pointing the book at Bonnie's face, judgingly. "No way. You don't get to play the abandoner mother card in this situation. You did a bad thing and you should be ashamed, Bonnie Bennett. I mean you don't see me using my dead dad as an excuse for maybe possibly helping Klaus figure out who took the stake."

Bonnie's head snapped up. "What?

She froze. "Yeah, I just remembered that he came by before Damon called and he and I ruled out some people who could have done it, but I seriously doubt he knows it was them. Besides, you snooped in granny drama and that doesn't exactly earn you a Nobel Prize."

With a sigh, Bonnie fell back onto the couch. "I guess we're both pretty screwed up."

Caroline settled back into the chair again. "Definitely."

* * *

"How's it going over there?" Damon murmured to Elena, who was lying a few inches away from her. Both of them were sitting atop the blanket with their clothes on, not speaking until now.

Elena lowered her magazine and glared at him. "Well, I just finished a second session of hybrid un-siring about two and a half minutes ago, and now I'm reading a magazine through my black eyes. You?"

He turned away, his lower lip jutting out. "I'm not answering you with that tone."

"Do you still think I'm going to cave in and sleep with you again?"

"Oh, I don't just think," he said, arrogantly, his eyes boring into her hers. He leaned in so that his breath tickled her cheeks. "I know."

She didn't realize how close she had come to kissing him until her lips were just hairs away from his, and her she couldn't feel her hands. This was not right. She was giving in just like he had predicted, She quickly gathered her thoughts and jumped out of the bed, holding on to one of the bedposts for balance.

"Nice try," she panted. But it's going to take a lot more to break me."

"You're not fighting fair," he explained, as-a-matter-of-factly. "I don't think you realize just how seductive you can be, Elena."

Luckily, she saw through his false flattery. "What's the problem, anyway? This can't be the first time you've gone a few days without sex."

"No, _I'm_ a hardened warrior. I'm just worried about _you_."

"Me?"

He nodded, his face irritatingly serious. "Have you considered the fact that you might not be able to channel anymore? Assuming that your lustful desires are what fuel the whole mind game, then sooner or later you won't have any fuel."

She folded her arms across her chest. "You've put a lot of thought into this."

"Uh-huh." He crawled over to her so he could kneel on the edge of the bed. His hand wrapped around the hand she had on the post. When he spoke again, his voice was quieter and more sincere. "I can take a bite mark every now and then, if that's what it takes to be with you."

Elena smiled. "Really? And you don't mind if these eyes aren't exactly mine?"

Instead of answering, he touched his lips to hers, short and sweet, softly touching the ends of her hair. Her breathing stopped and her heartbeat kicked into high gear. She gripped at the lapels on his jacket.

When they pulled apart, she looked into the eyes that made her brain go fuzzy and knew that that was an answer enough.

* * *

Caroline sat at the desk in her room, her head leaning on her fist, idly flipping through the pages of the diary that she took from Bonnie but not really seeing what was written.

Then, through her boredom, a few words caught her eye.

Glancing all around to check that no one was watching, she spread the book all the way open and read the full page.

Her forehead wrinkled in confusion at the same time that her stomach dropped to her chest. There was something wavering behind the sentences that her grams had wrote, but they didn't make sense at first. She could only guess as to what the meaning of it was.

But if what she was thinking was true…

The diary slipped through her fingers and fell to the floor.

**AN: Okay so my "hiatus" wasn't that long, but I couldn't wait to update! Hope you liked this chapter and you should expect the next one in a few days just like usual! And I want**** to remind you that I love feedback whether its good or bad! Please keep reviewing and enjoying! And the synopsis for chapter twelve:**

_**A BUMP IN THE ROAD- Caroline faces her worst nightmare as she realizes she's come across a dark and dangerous secret but can't share it with anybody. Bonnie struggles with keeping a long distance relationship, and the entire house realizes that they have an entirely new problem on their hands.**_


	12. Chapter 12

_Dear Diary, _

_ Things are different—a lot different—since the last time I wrote you. New place, new plan, new friends… and a new me. I'm happy, and being happy has changed me so much. _

_ And it doesn't stop there. If everything works out the way it should, then Klaus is going to be out of our lives forever. Like, really forever. I can't imagine what it's going to be like without him, but I know it will be better. We wont have to be afraid anymore, even taking a step out of the house to get the paper. And now I have forever. I have forever to be with…_

"Elena?" Damon called, walking into the room. Elena looked up from the paper and saw him smile at her. "Hey. You ready to come down?"

The hybrids were waiting for her in the backyard. Every since that first successful session, Lucy had been pushing Elena to train the hybrids almost every second of the day. It took a lot out of her, and although Lucy had assured her that there were not any harmful effects of constantly channeling Klaus, something still felt weird inside of her head even when her eyes were back to normal.

"In a second. Tell Lucy I've just got to finish this real quick and then I'll be all hers," she responded.

"Are you sure everything's okay? Lucy's been working you like a dog all week. I wouldn't blame you if you wanted a day off to maybe sleep for once."

"I'm fine. Don't worry about me." She smiled at his worrisome expression and watched him turn around and go back downstairs. She leaned back over her green leather diary.

_Anyway, like I said, things are going to be better now. And if wearing me to the bone is what it takes to earn everybody's freedom back, then I'll do it, even if it means having black eyes almost all of the time. _

_ Everything's going to be fine._

* * *

Kol Mikaelson stared at the slightly burnt drawing of the old white oak tree that used to be the tallest thing he had ever seen as a young boy. And now it was ash, swept up by the wind and scattered all over the world over hundreds of years, or so they had thought.

He ran a finger along the blackened edges of the paper, then crumpled it up and tossed it into the corner of the room, his mother's study. Then he angrily stomped out of the house dialed Klaus's number.

"Ah, brother Kol, so nice to see you haven't been killed by that wretched stake yet," Klaus immediately greeted him as he picked up. "I expect you have good news as to its whereabouts."

"Actually, that is the purpose to my calling, Niklaus. You see, I don't plan on running circles around the continent again from whoever might have the power to end our family, so I'm doing what neither you or Rebekah, or Elijah or that bloody Finn would do. I'm taking action against these thieves, and I'm not stopping until they are dead."

Klaus didn't seem surprised, or emotionally affected at all. "Now, now, Kol, let's not be hasty. Remember that running has never let us down in the past."

"Maybe not to you. But as for the rest of us, we have obligations," he explained. "I'm going to give our sibling the peace we have deserved for so long. So I suggest you either help me or don't stand in my way."

There was a long, pregnant pause. Kol knew Klaus was weighing his decisions, but in the end, he really didn't have a choice.

He sighed. "Where do we start?"

* * *

Jeremy sat down at the table farthest from the rest of the Grill and opened up his laptop. After clicking on a several buttons and a few moments of patience, Bonnie's face popped up on his screen, and his own face appeared in a little box in the corner from his live web cam.

Bonnie was grinning from ear to ear. She waved at him with her pixel hand. "Hey, Jeremy! How are you?"

"Missing you."

"I know. I've been missing you so much too. But I hear if all goes well, we may be back in a couple of weeks. So we just have to hold on till then."

"How's everything over there. Is Elena doing well? It's still early for her in the transition and that problem with her blood and all…"

Bonnie nodded. "It's so great, Jeremy. I wish I could show you how perfectly it's all going. Soon enough, Elena will have unsired all of the hybrids so that they can be on our side. And the stake has been transformed into a dagger, so we can put it in Klaus and be done with this whole thing."

He smiled. "Somehow, I don't believe that it's going to work out just the way we want it to."

"Stop worrying," she waved him off. "Anyways, let me see the Grill. Does it look good?"

"See for yourself." He picked up the laptop and spun it slowly around the room, giving her a good panoramic view of the inside of the restaurant. "Just goes to show that hard work pays off. This is what long hours of construction looks like."

"Good to see you took the opportunity to improve," she giggled, sarcastically as he set the laptop back down on the table.

He shrugged. "I figured it was best just the way it is, right now."

Bonnie nodded, not disagreeing with him. There were a lot of great memories that went along with the Grill. Considering it was basically Mystic Falls' only hangout, Jeremy had spent the better part of his life playing pool in the corner or waiting on tables with Matt. It felt rewarding to know he had a part in building it back up.

Then Bonnie focused on a spot over Jeremy's shoulder and squinted. "Wait a minute. Is that…Kol over there?"

Jeremy turned around to see that, sure enough, the dark-haired Original Kol was standing at the bar across the room, tapping the bottom of an empty shot glass against the surface of the countertop. He glanced over to where Jeremy was sitting, and he quickly ducked his head so that Kol would not notice him.

Bonnie was waiting anxiously. "Well?"

"What the hell is he doing here?" he wondered.

"Is Klaus with him?"

"No," Jeremy answered, looking at Kol again. "No, it's just him. I'm going to go check that out. I'll talk to you later tonight, okay?"

She frowned. "Jeremy, be careful."

He smiled, reassuringly, and snapped the laptop shut.

Jeremy stood up observed Kol for just a moment. As his eyes swept the rest of the restaurant, he caught sight of Sheriff Forbes who had just walked in and was also staring at Kol. She turned and saw Jeremy, and they shared a worried look.

He nodded as if to say that he would take care of it, and then walked over to stand next to Kol at the bar.

"Nice to see you again, mate," Kol said immediately, obviously having heard Jeremy come up to him. "Finally want to get back to those batting cages again?"

"Actually I was wondering what brings you back into town," Jeremy responded, coldly. "And when you were planning to leave."

Kol beckoned the bartender over, and he uncapped a beer and slid it before Jeremy. He didn't take a sip, but Kol emptied another shot glass. "Well, I was hoping to talk to someone a little taller, but I guess you'll do for now. You see I'm having a bit of a problem, Jeremy old pal. The only weapon that can kill me is missing, and I know you know where it is. So why don't you just fess up before this gets ugly?"

Jeremy tried to keep his face smooth like Stefan or Damon would. He understood that since neither of them was here right now, he would have to step up. And yes, he knew that that the stake was with his sister and Bonnie and the rest of them in Memphis, whether it was still a stake or a dagger now. But he wouldn't give that away to Kol.

"Look, I have no idea where the stake is, but it's definitely not here. So just leave Mystic Falls and take you're search with you."

"You know it could stay between us," he murmured, persuasively. "If that's what you are worried about. No one would have to know that you were the one who gave me the location of the stake."

"I don't know where it is," he repeated, emphasizing each word.

Kol sighed, and looked down at his hands, which were folding and unfolding at his stomach. Then, all of a sudden, he reached out and grabbed Jeremy's collar tightly in his fist and lifted his feet a few inches off of the ground.

The entire room went silent as every face turned to look at the pair of them.

"Find me that stake," he whispered, menacingly. "Or there is going to be hell to pay, and every day that goes by that I don't have it is another innocent body you will find on your doorstep. Are we clear, Gilbert?"

He dropped Jeremy to the floor and stormed out of the restaurant.

* * *

"Daisy Patterson, fifteen," Stefan said, solemnly as he tossed the newspaper onto the kitchen table. "Found dead from extreme blood loss in the middle of the woods yesterday."

Damon sighed. "Looks like Kol wasn't screwing around with us."

"I knew I shouldn't have let Jeremy confront him," Bonnie murmured, regrettably. "He's lucky to be alive."

"Well now he's Kol's little errand boy," Damon reminded her. "Like that's any better."

"What are we going to do?" Elena demanded.

Lucy shrugged. "There's nothing we can do. We simply can't let Jeremy reveal the location of our hiding spot, or Kol will come here and kill all of us."

"But if he doesn't give Kol anything, then _he'll_ be dead."

"Can we lead him on a false trail?" Stefan offered.

"Maybe," Lucy answered. "But that will only occupy him for so long till he finds out that Jeremy lied to him, then he'll come back for blood. On the other hand, it is the best shot we have of keeping Jeremy alive the longest and Kol from killing a person a day."

"Then we'll do it," Elena decided.

"Hold on," Damon objected. "Why give Jeremy just a few more weeks when we should just get down there and stop Kol ourselves?"

Elena glanced to Lucy. "Can we do that? Will you help us?"

"There are some spells I can do to give you the upper hand long enough to bring him back here where we can contain him until after we take care of Klaus. Then we'll get our hands on a dagger and some white oak ash and box him up with his brother."

"Then we'll head out as soon as possible," Damon nodded. "Until then, we should keep in touch with Jeremy. Little Gilbert doesn't say one word to him unless we've told him to."

Elena looked at Damon, worriedly. Of course, she didn't like the idea of Jeremy being so close to Kol, especially since they didn't know if he was working with Klaus. But if they were going to monitor him closely and constantly, then she was just going to have to have faith in Damon. Besides, she told him that she loved him, so trust is pretty much implied.

She walked forward to get a closer look at the newspaper that Stefan had dropped onto the counter. It was a Mystic Falls paper, and on the front page was the headline **YOUNG GIRL FOUND DEAD: ANOTHER SERIAL KILLER ON THE LOOSE?**

The article went on to explain how the girl's death was the cause of an animal attack, as was signed by Dr. Meredith Fell. But despite this, the citizens of Mystic Falls are skeptic that this might just be part two of the murders performed by the late Alaric Saltzman, who has passed his work down to his apprentice.

Her stomach twisted. It was bad enough that Alaric was dead, but that the town that he lived in and the people in it still believe that he was a murderer. It was terrible to think that they didn't get to know him like Elena did. They didn't get to see him as the incredibly loving father figure that he was, or that he died for the sake of everyone else.

Elena was staring at the smudged words on the newspaper so hard that they began to blur together creating one big black jumble of letters. The harder she tried to concentrate to make out the different words, the more strain it put on her eyes. It wasn't until after her skull began to throb in the effort that she realized something was wrong.

She wasn't normally a queasy person or susceptible to fainting, so there had to be another reason for the fact that she could no longer feel her legs.

Then it suddenly occurred to her that she was extremely worn out when Stefan had called everyone into the kitchen and was ready to rest in her room. She had just finished a rather long training session and it took a lot out of her. Could her dizziness be the result of her not resting?

A pair of arms wrapped around her wait and she recognized Damon's familiar and enticing scent.

"Whoa there," he murmured into her ear. "Let's take a seat right here."

He lowered the two of them to the floor, which was cool against her skin. She leaned her pulsating head onto his shoulder and rode out the headache with her eyes closed.

When the pain began to subside and she realized she could focus on more than just a filmy mist that clouded her surroundings, she opened her eyes and saw that the kitchen was empty aside from her and Damon sitting on the floor.

He watched her slowly sit up with eyes so glazed that it seemed like the room would never stop spinning. His arms were ready in case she was to fall again.

"You okay?" he asked quietly.

Elena held her hand to the side of her head, hoping to somehow hold her brain in incase her skull decided to explode. "I think so. What _was_ that?"

"Well, uh…" he helped her lean back against the bottom of the counter. "I've certainly seen my fair share of hangovers, so I can sure as hell tell you that that wasn't one."

She giggled, but it only made her dizzier. Somehow, she remembered a time when she was younger and her gym coach told her to breathe in through her nose and out through her mouth whenever she felt faint. It worked, but only a little.

Damon lifted his hand to stroke her perspiring cheekbones. His eyes flickered to her mouth. "I think you've been working too hard lately. It's taking a lot out of you."

"That can't be the reason why I passed out."

"Lucy said this might happen," he explained. "I should have listened to her."

She reached up and placed her hand over his on her face. "Damon, if anything, this isn't your fault. It's mine. I…bit off more than I could chew, I guess."

He looked deeply into her eyes. "Just promise me you'll take it easy from now on."

"I promise."

Elena cupped her hand around the back of his neck and kissed him softly on the mouth. It was so casual, so normal, that she hardly understood why they hadn't been doing this before. In fact, thinking back over her time with Stefan made it clear that every second _before_ she confessed her love to Damon had been the strange and unfamiliar, and this was right, and it was right now.

* * *

Caroline paced the living room, back and forth in front of the fireplace.

She couldn't—she wouldn't—be able to keep this kind of secret to herself. Caroline wasn't one to hold in anything, which was why people considered her a gossip in high school. Every word that went in through her ears came out through her lips. It wasn't exactly something she could control, but t had never really been a problem before. But now…everything was put in perspective.

Finally, right on schedule, Lucy came downstairs in her pajamas in direction of the kitchen for her morning coffee; she always woke up earlier than anybody else. But then she saw Caroline, and walked toward her with a pleasant smile.

"Caroline? What are you doing up? Usually, I'm the only one awake at this time."

Without hesitation, Caroline ripped the leather diary off of the top of the mantle and held it up so Lucy could see it. "I know. _I know everything_."

The color drained from Lucy's face like someone had uncorked her. Every muscle in her body stiffened, and Caroline could see the goose bumps rise on her arms. Her eyes widened to the size of golf balls, and her mouth formed an _o_.

She swallowed. "Um…that wasn't my decision, and it's not what you think."

"Really?" Caroline spat. "You think I read it wrong? You know, there actually aren't many different ways that this can be construed as."

"Would you stop looking at me like that, Caroline? You don't know everything. There's no way that you can fully understand this. But you have to swear that you will _never _tell anyone about what you read."

Caroline sighed, and threw the diary onto the coffee table. "Then start talking."

* * *

Sheriff Forbes waited as Mrs. Lockwood went to open the door for her. As soon as she walked into the lavish foyer, Mrs. Lockwood was explaining the situation.

"They only gave me fifteen minutes notice before they all just showed up at my doorstep. Liz, what happened? Their faces…they were so angry."

She looked around. "Where are they now?"

"In the family room."

Carol followed the sheriff into the large living room, where the entire Mystic Falls town council was gathered in a loose semi-circle, and all eyes were on Liz as she entered the room. They were definitely not happy, except for Dr. Fell, who she could pick out from the rest of the crowd. _Her_ face was worried and terrified.

"Thank you for coming, sheriff," the town treasurer immediately addressed her. "Take a seat."

"I'm fine," she replied, rather tersely. "Just tell me why you called this urgent meeting."

He sighed, and took a hesitant step forward. "I heard that you were present during the incident at the Mystic Grill with the ancient vampire Kol. He threatened Jeremy Gilbert. He said that if Jeremy didn't give him something, then the people of Mystic Falls would pay. And since then, a young girl was found dead of a vampire attack in the woods. As you can understand, Liz, this is why we formed the council, for problems like this. We can't just sit by and watch more innocent people get killed over this. So just tell us. What does he want from the Gilbert boy?"

Sheriff Forbes sucked in a tight breath. Of course she knew what Kol wanted. It was why her daughter was in Memphis and not here with her. The stake. But this was confidential information. She was sure Caroline probably wasn't even supposed to tell her. She couldn't even imagine what Damon would do if he knew that she knew where the stake was, and that it was a dangerous dagger that worked on Klaus.

So there was no way she could tell these people, the absolute haters of vampirism, what she knew of the White Oak stake. There was no way that they were going to let them carry on with their plan, at least not without finding out about who they really are. And that was hard enough to erase from their brains the first time.

The treasurer waited for her response, but none came. "It's about the indestructible White Oak stake, isn't it?"

She balked. "How did you know?"

He turned around to glance at Meredith, and Liz understood.

The doctor whimpered, and her eyes widened. "I'm so sorry, Liz," she pleaded. "But I had to. They gave me no choice."

Sheriff Forbes just shook her head at her, disappointedly.

Then the treasurer rubbed at his chin, then closed the distance between him and Liz. He leaned in very close till she could feel his breath on her face. "This matter is no longer your problem, Sheriff Forbes. As of now, the council will take over. Don't worry, sheriff, mayor. We've got this under control."

Then he started to walk away, but just as he reached the front door, he whirled back around. "Oh, and anyone who tries to get in our way will be…handled."

The slam of the door resonated in the air long after he was gone.

**AN: Please let me apologize for the very very long time it took for me to post this chapter. I pinkie promise that this is the first and last time that I will ever be late in updating! I'm really sorry!**

**Anyways, hope you liked this chapter. It wasn't much, I know, especially after such a long wait, but the tension is about to rise. And for those of you wondering about the secret that Caroline discovered, it will actually not be revealed for a while. **

**But for now, here's the synopsis for chapter thirteen (which WILL be updated on time, scout's honor):**

_**I ALWAYS FEEL LIKE SOMEBODY'S WATCHING ME- Everyone's allegiances are tested as the members of the council take action against the situation, and it is up to Jeremy to fix things back at home. Damon and Elena's plan to capture Kol is compromised when they come face to face with someone unexpected. Caroline continues her struggle to uncover the truth of Sheila's diary.**_


	13. Chapter 13

"So where is he now?" Damon demanded into his cell phone as he went back and forth across the room filling up two different overnight bags with clothes he was snagging from the closet.

"I did everything you told me to do," Jeremy explained, tired of repeating himself to Damon. "If he listened to me, then he should be in the tip of North Carolina, just a few hours away from where you are now."

"Good. Within a few hours, Kol will be daggered desiccated mush."

Jeremy sighed. "Lovely. And you've got the weapons that Lucy made ready?"

Damon glanced over to the foot of the bed where he'd set the sandwich bag full of grayish ash that would stun Kol long enough for them to snap his neck and haul him back here. "No offense, but I'd rather not tell you everything. You being Kol's double agent and all."

"Oh come on, Damon. You can tell me and then maybe I can come with you and help."

"Not this time, little Gilbert."

"Then _when_? At some point I'm—"

Damon snapped the phone shut in the middle of Jeremy's sentence. It would probably annoy him, but he was just looking out for him like Stefan would.

Elena walked in then with another Ziploc bag of ash, which she tossed next to the other one. "Lucy made us some more for good luck," she said, and then went over to stand next to Damon.

"How'd Stefan take it when you told him you were going instead of him?" he wondered, bemused. "Pretty much like me, I'd guess, but with more brooding and hair."

"You are both just worried about me like I'm still a human, and I appreciate it, but I'm not a human anymore," she told him, in a soft but firm voice. Then she shrugged. "Are we all packed?"

"And ready to go," he murmured, gesturing to their neatly stuffed leather duffel bags.

She inspected the contents of her own, digging through the stacks of clothing. "Wait, you forgot to pack me any underwear."

He smirked. "I didn't forget." Then he reached over to place the plastic bags of ash at the bottom of his bag where no one could see them, and threw both overnight bags over his shoulder. "Let's go sack some Original ass."

* * *

Jeremy sighed in frustration, tossing the phone back into his locker and making his way to history class.

Sooner than later, he was going to have to be involved in the missions, and not just because he was only one standing there when Kol happened to wander into the Grill. He was going to do something, something incredible, which would show everyone that he was old enough to handle the big leagues.

His thoughts were interrupted as he entered the classroom and saw the short and balky policeman standing up by the front desk.

As Jeremy went to sit in the last empty chair in the back of the room, the substitute began to talk.

"Good morning, class," he greeted them, half-heartedly, obviously ungrateful for whatever this was that was keeping him from teaching. "Today we'll be taking a break from the Monroe Doctrine so that we can hear a few words from Officer Johnson."

Officer Johnson? Somehow, Jeremy recalled that name from a different time, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Then he remembered where he had heard it before. It was after his parents had died and his house was full of police officers and town officials, and most all of them were what he now knew as the council, because, as he had heard, his parents were a big part of it. Johnson was one of the founding families.

Officer Johnson cleared his throat. "Uh, listen. Due to the recent death of a local child about your age, we have decided that we are going to start cracking down on security from now on. I'm not saying that the killer was one of you guys—"

"I thought Daisy died of an animal attack in the woods," Jeremy blurted out, with narrowed eyes pointed at the police officer.

Johnson shot a quick and angry glance in Jeremy's direction. "Of course. But we have to take measures to protect the young, bright students of Mystic Falls, so expect things to be a little different around here starting tomorrow. Each student will enter the building through a metal detector and have the contents of their books, backpacks, and etc. searched thoroughly. You will go nowhere unless supervised by a teacher or police officer. And, until further notice, the Mystic Grill will be closed."

There were several groans of disapproval from the classroom. Jeremy was awed. He knew the council was going to take action, but not like this. It was like they were accusing students of giving aid to Kol, when they knew it was Jeremy. What was the point of all of this?

* * *

"Can't I at least tell Stefan?" Caroline demanded to Lucy. "If I have to keep this secret for any longer then I'm going to burst."

Lucy shot up from her chair. "What part of 'you can't tell anyone' did you not understand, Caroline. This isn't just a silly rumor you heard in the girls' bathroom. If anyone finds out about this…I don't even want to imagine what would happen."

"Yeah, yeah. I get it." She sighed, "This sucks. I almost wish I never found out about it."

"Almost?"

Caroline shrugged. "In a way, I kind of feel like a hero. I mean I know I can't tell anybody or do anything about it, but at least I _know_."

"Well, at risk of sounding too cliché," Lucy said, smiling. "I should tell you that with knowing this comes responsibility. Maybe it's best if you just pretend like you never read Sheila's diary. Forget everything. Go back to the time before when you in the dark about it. That'll make it easier on you."

"I don't know if I can. I won't be able to look anyone in the eye anymore without feeling like somehow I'm lying to them."

She patted her shoulder in a friendly way. "There's a difference between lying and not telling the whole truth."

Caroline looked at Lucy, and hoped she was right.

* * *

"Are we stopping?" Elena asked as Damon led her into a very grunge-style bar in the middle of a crowded town square.

Damon squinted at her. "Stopping? We're here." They looked around the inside of the average-sized clean enough bar and he shrugged. "We made it this far. Where else are we going to start looking for him?"

"My guess is the bottom of a whiskey glass."

The place wasn't very crowded considering it was almost four in the afternoon, so it was too late for the lunch rush and too early for dinner or drinking. So they sat down at the high stools at the bar, and Damon ordered both of them a bourbon on the rocks.

He noticed her knee compulsively shaking and smiled. "Will you relax? We're going to find him."

"In an entire town? Even if it's not New York City, it is still too big to find just one person. I don't know I didn't think of this before when I was going over every detail of our plan," she mumbled. "And if we end up not finding Kol, then he's just going to go back to Mystic Falls and kill Jeremy for giving him false information."

He placed his hand comfortingly on her leg to stop her bouncing. "A guy like Kol leaves a trail, okay. Whether it's dead bodies of tri-delts or compelled bank tellers. Now will you calm down? Everything is going to be okay."

She believed him, almost, but she picked up her glass and took a long sip for good luck.

* * *

Multiple fists pounded on the front door. Jeremy sighed, and then his heart began pounding furiously, and he set his backpack on the couch to go answer the door.

His suspicions were correct. Officer Johnson stood there on his porch, accompanied by Carl Fell, the town treasurer, and another officer whom Jeremy had never seen before.

They barged past him into the house. "Jeremy Gilbert, you are hereby under investigation," Carl declared, puffing out his chest for authority. The policeman without a name held up his badge inside his enormous hand. "Pending immediately."

Jeremy's hands balled into fists. "You have no right to be in here without a warrant. And what the hell did I do anyway?"

Carl looked at both of his officers smugly. "The town council overrides your regular rules as we have declared that we have authorization in this house due to the circumstances. And you, unfortunately, have done nothing besides aiding the accused—Elena Gilbert, Stefan Salvatore, Damon Salvatore, Caroline Forbes, Bonnie Bennett, and so on—in their acts of supernatural treason and deception."

Jeremy's chest tightened. As far as he knew, Damon had taken care of the council knowing their secret. The fact that they were so aware was news to him.

"I don't know what you are talking about. There is nothing supernatural in this town," he lied, hoping to convince them.

"I'm sorry, Jeremy, but there is too much evidence to the contrary." Carl turned around and nodded to the officers, and they disappeared into the house. Officer Johnson climbed the stairs and opened and closed several doors on that level. The other policeman went into the kitchen and living room, digging through drawers and cabinets.

He became furious. "What the hell… Get out now!"

Moments later, Officer Johnson descended the stairs with a pencil case in his hand that he had taken from Jeremy's room.

"Got what we needed," he said, and unzipped the case to reveal the contents in his palms. "As you see here, I have discarded from the suspect's room a pencil case, which is hiding three small wooden stakes that would only be relevant for a sixteen-year-old to have if he were afraid of vampires, and the rare herb called vervain that will protect one from compulsion."

Jeremy groaned. That was hidden emergency stash.

Carl inspected the load. "So, Jeremy, either you know about vampires or you are preparing for a very graphic history essay." Then he motioned to the other officer. "Cuff him."

* * *

Elena couldn't help but glance around the bar every few seconds. "Can we please leave now. No matter what you say, I'm not going to calm down until we've captured Kol."

"Fine," he sighed, paid the bill, and ushered her out of the restaurant. "Now if I were Kol, where would I search for an indestructible White Oak stake?"

She racked her brain, knowing her brother's life was at stake, but came up with nothing. This was a false trail, after all. And she had never been to this town before. It was going to be next to impossible to find him or any trace of him. But she had to have faith in Damon's tracking ability.

As they walked down the street, Damon suddenly held out a hand to stop her.

"What is it?" she wondered. "Do you hear Kol?"

He shook his head. "But I hear something. Wait here."

Despite what he said, she followed him as he listened carefully and followed the sound into a nearby dark alley. It was completely empty aside from a foul-smelling dumpster.

"There's no one here, Damon. We should keep looking."

Damon acted as if he didn't hear her. His entire face was deeply concentrating on something, and Elena could tell he had every sense on alert. But there was absolutely nothing around. Maybe he was hearing a raccoon in the dumpster or some other animal. She sighed and turned to leave, hoping he would take a hint.

The last thing she expected to see was Klaus' dark face staring down at her.

Damon heard her gasp, and flashed over to where they were facing off, but Klaus quicker. He slammed a hand into each of their faces and gripped their hair, so he could wheel their bodies around and slam their heads into the brick building on one side of the alley.

Elena tried so hard to hold onto her consciousness, but the pain was so strong…

She let go.

**AN: Wow, I'm such a (bad word)! These past few chapters have been so short. I've failed:(**

** Also, I've realized that I have been leaving out important character relationships, such as Stefan/Damon. So I'm planning on having some more Defan scenes. Not now, of course, but later on. We still have nine chapters to go!**

** But enough about my terrible mistakes, let's look ahead to the future. As I said before, the secret Caroline knows will not be revealed for exactly several chapters:) (Oh, and it is BIG) And I have much planned for the chapters to come, like the next one. Its going to be epic!**

** And chapter fifteen will be a little different, but that's all I'm going to say right now! On with the synopsis:**

_**IN ENEMY TERRITORY-Jeremy tries to deal with his new circumstances, and is surprised to hear unexpected news from Sheriff Forbes. Elena and Damon are in serious danger as they are captured by Klaus, and must fight his forms of torture to stay alive.**_


	14. Chapter 14

Instinctively, Elena opened her eyes, but they were so crusted together that the action tore at her eyelashes, sending shooting pain to her nerves.

The situation felt oddly familiar, and Elena realized that this had already happened to her once, when the witches first brought them to their house. The room she was in was the same dark dirty basement or cellar with an exit in the corner that partially concealed a flight of stone steps, only this time she didn't think it would turn out the same way. This time wouldn't have a happy ending.

She remembered seeing Klaus just before she had blacked out, so he must be the one holding them captive, but this realization made her shudder. If Klaus had kidnapped them, then he had to know about their plans to channel him, take his hybrids, dagger him, or even daggering Kol. There were so many things they had against him, and if he even knew a single one, then he would kill them all.

Elena felt something smooth and plastic press against her lips, and she looked up to see Damon sitting over her feeding her blood from a blood bag.

"Here, drink this," he murmured, soothingly, to her. "It was left for us. It has no vervain in it; I checked."

She shook her head. "I don't need it."

"Yes you do." Damon combed her hair with his fingers as gently as possible as she sat up straight, gulping down the warm red blood. But he was constantly checking around them, making sure they were still alone. Elena could feel his whole body was on edge, and so was she.

"Why would Klaus capture us and then give us blood?" she wondered, curiously. "It doesn't add up."

"I don't know, but my guess is that we're about to find out."

"That you are," said Klaus' voice, echoing in the damp basement as he appeared at the bottom of the stone steps that led upstairs. "Long time no see."

Damon's eyes locked with Klaus' in a fierce glare as he slowly lifted both of them to their feet. "Wasn't long enough," he snarled. "What the hell do you want with us? We didn't take the stake, and we have no idea who did. So just let us go."

Klaus approached them. "Unfortunately, you are not telling me the truth. I know about the community of witches you have been running with, and how you have transformed the only remaining White Oak stake into a dagger that can affect me. And I also know about your little adventures channeling me, Elena. How you have been siring my hybrids to you. You think I didn't feel it when you channeled me? Your hypocrisy is about as thick as your deception. When the hybrids were sired to me, it was evil but now it's different for you?"

Elena couldn't speak. Klaus knew about her ability to channel him. This decided it. She wasn't going to live to see tomorrow. She was as good as dead to Klaus.

Luckily, Damon spoke for her. "I don't give a damn about the hybrids. All we cared about was getting rid of you, and as it turned out, the hybrids hate you just as much as we do. So, yeah, we used them, and they'll get their stupid freedom in the end just like we promised."

Something about Damon's words amused Klaus, because he chuckled. "Obviously, that day hasn't come yet." Then he turned toward the exit. "You can come out now."

As Elena and Damon watched with wide eyes, about four or five of the hybrids from their training sessions filed into the basement with blank expressions and stood spaced evenly around the perimeter of the room.

"You stole our hybrids," Elena muttered under her breath.

"You stole them first," he retorted, happily. "And even though they have obeyed me thus far, they are still broken beyond repair. They will never be as loyal to me as they were before. I have no use for them, just as I have no use for you."

Elena sucked in a breath. She knew where this was going.

"I gave you the blood so that you were strong enough to witness that you stood no chance against me until your painful end," he continued, his hands behind his back.

"You see, you are not the only ones with witches on your side. Don't underestimate my ability to persuade."

"What are you talking about?" Elena wondered.

"Witches are so much more evolved these days," he mused to himself. "They've come to manufacturing explosives, even. Specially small kinds of explosives." He lifted up a small glass vial and shook it. Little tiny pieces of metal clinked together at the bottom. "Ones that only detonate fifteen minutes after being ingested."

Elena's stomach dropped. She could only guess where this was leading. "You put those things in the blood you gave us."

Klaus laughed loudly. "That would be a brilliant idea, Elena, wouldn't it? Channeling me has taken its toll, I see. No, I have better plans for you." His eyes landed briefly on each hybrid. "Everyone of these hybrids has drank wine laced with these explosives a few moments prior. They should be ready to blow soon."

Damon went rigid at her side. If there was anyone that she could rely on to be angry instead of terrified in moments like these, it was him. She figured that somehow, it helped him focus his fear into stone-cold rage. In fact, she wished she had that ability right about now.

"So what," Damon growled, his eyes flat. "You're going to kill us and never find out where we've been hiding all this time?"

Elena wasn't sure where to stand on this. It was collateral that might keep them alive, but would Damon sell out the witches? No, she answered herself. He wouldn't ever. So this would keep them alive, and that was perfectly acceptable.

"Sometimes you have to make sacrifices for what's more important, mate," Klaus murmured, and then his voice began to rise in intensity. "And what's important right now is making sure that the one person in the world who has the power to mimic my mind is dead. Which is why I will also do this…"

Quicker than a bolt of lightening, Klaus appeared at Elena's side with sickeningly yellow eyes and sank his fangs into her right arm, just above her wrist. What was left after he went away was an angry, red and purple, pulsating bite mark.

A noise somewhat in between a scream and a cry left her throat.

"So," Klaus panted, blood dripping at the corners of his mouth. "For your sake, you better hope that the hybrids kill you before that nasty thing on your arm does."

And then he was gone, an iron wrought gate slamming behind him, blocking the only way out.

* * *

Jeremy woke up and the first thought that came to his mind was that he had spent the night in a jail cell.

He'd always joked about something like this with his parents. As a child, he was actually exceptionally obedient. He turned in all his papers in school and never got detention or even a warning. Teachers, parents—you name it—they loved him. And so his parents would tease him about how they knew he was going to end up dressed all in orange. It was silly because it was just so far fetched.

And now here he was, his neck aching from the hard bench he had slept on, reeking of a sour smell you find in public restrooms, and enclosed behind metal bars.

Yet the actual idea was pretty much disturbingly ridiculous. The purpose of the bars was so that they could contain him. They thought he was a danger. The idea was almost funny, if he hadn't spent the night in a jail cell.

Then he remembered Kol, and a chill ran down his spine. With Kol relying on him to find out where the stake was, this was probably the worst time for him to be locked up in a cell. What would he do when he finds out where Jeremy is?

On the bright side, Kol might break him out of here. Then he would be free from the council's ridiculous new rules and regulations. He would leave town until the whole situation had blown over, find Bonnie and Elena and the others in Memphis. Then, after Kol had been daggered and Klaus killed with his own special dagger, the council would lay off and they would all come back. But, as he reminded himself, nothing ever went that smoothly when it came to them.

However, Kol might break him out of here. It was like a double-edged sword, or so he'd heard. He'd rather sit in this sour-smelling jail cell for twenty years than face the repercussions of Kol helping him escape, starting with every member of the council having their hearts ripped from their chests.

Footsteps echoed in the room, and Officer Johnson entered the room and sat down at his desk, beginning to fill out paperwork. Jeremy went right up to the bars and noticed the large ring of keys dangling from a hook in the officer's belt.

He caught Jeremy eying his keys and chuckled darkly. "You wish, Gilbert. You just sit your ass back down."

"Don't I get a phone call?"

"This isn't a courtroom drama, Jeremy. Just do what I and said and sit down," he said, gruffly. "Besides, who do you have to call? Everyone you've been blindly help ruin the city has abandoned you."

Jeremy grinded his teeth together, but then he realized that Officer Johnson was right. Not about the abandoning part, of course, but when he implied that Jeremy didn't have anyone to call to come get him. There really was no one left, besides Matt, who really couldn't leave his house now with the new rules, and the thought left a weight in his stomach.

He sat back down on the bench.

* * *

Elena wiped the back of her hand against her forehead.

Of course, she'd been sick before. She remembered catching the flu for a whole two weeks, and it was probably the sickest she had ever bee. She had also plunged a knife into her own stomach, sliced her own throat, been cut for blood time and time again, and let's not forget the two different times she had died.

But none of those compared to this.

Her skin was soaked with three layers of sweat, yet she was shaking with fever. Her bones ached so that she could hardly moved, and her head felt like it weighed a thousand pounds.

She was stuck between dreaming and reality, just like one of the many sleepless nights she had had in the course of her lifetime. The hybrids standing around them were still and emotionless, but every once in a while, one of them would do something like speak or move. It was to the point that she couldn't really decide what was real and what was in her head.

Damon was sitting beside her, holding her hand, but there wasn't much he could do. He pulled back the bit of cloth he had torn from his shirt to inspect the wolf bite. It had swollen to twice its size and spread higher up her arm. It didn't look good at all.

Elena had to face the harsh truth: she was going to die.

"You look worried," she teased Damon's lined face in a weak voice.

"Do I?" he tried to smile for her, but it was an effort for him. He sighed. "Don't be stupid. There's nothing to be worried about. We're going to get you out of here."

She didn't answer. There was no way they were going to get her out of here. It was so inevitable that they were going to die here that it wasn't even worth avoiding the matter.

"Face it, Damon. Even if we manage to get out of here, this bite is going to kill me. The only way to cure it is drink Klaus' blood and that's not happening. Besides, the hybrids are going to go off in a few minutes."

Damon's face fell. "Isn't there some way that you could channel Klaus and cure yourself?"

"No, I don't think so," she shook her head. "I have to concentrate _a lot _to channel him and I can't do that now. Not like this, anyway."

He began pushing her matted hair out of her eyes. Her head was resting on his balled up jacket, and the sweat was building up in the areas that were rubbing against the leather, but at least it wasn't the cold hard ground.

"We're going to get you out of this," he repeated.

"Shh." Elena reached up and took his hand in her feeble grip. "I now know how it must have felt when you were dying from that wolf bite."

"That _was_ one of my more weaker moments."

"I don't know," she murmured. "I liked it.

He gave her a confused look.

"Not the dying part, of course," she explained, quickly, smiling. "But the part where you said you loved me, and that you didn't mind whatever happened to you because of the bad things you did to deserve it, because otherwise you wouldn't have met me. I couldn't say any of it back then, but I can now. I love you."

"I'm not going to say I love you yet, Elena, because we're not dying, okay? You are not dying."

Instead of arguing with him in their final moments, Elena just said "okay" and pressed her cheek to his arm. She wished that the hybrids weren't standing there, listening to everything they were saying. Besides the fact that they were literally ticking time bombs, Elena would rather they were gone so she could have some privacy with Damon.

She caught herself just as she was about to drift to sleep. It was good she didn't let herself fall asleep because she only had so much time left with Damon and she wanted to spend it completely awake.

The, all of a sudden, an idea came to her mind, and she jolted upright, ignoring her protesting body.

"What is it?" Damon wondered.

She whipped her head around, and her face was completely lit up. "Do you have a knife?"

* * *

"You have a visitor," Officer Johnson mumbled, sullenly, the keys jingling as he unlocked Jeremy's cell and held it open so Sheriff Forbes could walk in.

"Sheriff Forbes?" He jumped up from his seat. He'd never considered that Caroline's mother was someone who would visit him or someone that he could call for help. But maybe, with her authority, she could get him out of here.

She nodded. "I'm sorry about this, Jeremy. I rushed over here as soon as I heard. They are completely out of their minds for tossing you in jail."

"But you can get me out, right?"

"Uh…" Sheriff Forbes hesitated, eyes flickering to the ground. "In this situation, the council's decision overrides mine. They suspended my badge. I'm afraid you're stuck in here until your sister gets back to prove you and them are innocent."

"How are we going to do that?"

"I'm working on it," she told him. "But for now, there's something I need to ask you. Are you completely sure that Klaus started your sister's bloodline?"

He shrugged. "I think so. His sibling even confirmed it. Why?"

"Because the council has the only white ash dagger there is left, and they are going to find Kol and kill him with it."

* * *

Elena held the glinting blade over her arm. Her hand was frozen, her previous enthusiasm gone. She couldn't force herself to move.

"It's alright," Damon coaxed her, placing a hand over hers. "This is the only chance you have of surviving this, Elena. You can do it. Just grit your teeth, and focus on something else. Think about the best day of your life. You can do this…"

He helped her bring the knife down on the edges of the throbbing bite mark, and it stung a little. They made an incision all the way around it, completely removing every festered square inch of skin. Beads of blood emerged from the deep red oval, plopping to the floor and on her leg. Damon guided her deeper into her skin, which was something she wouldn't be able to do on her own, just underneath the purple oozing wound. That was when the pain _really_ started to kick in.

A piercing scream burst through her lips, rising in volume. She couldn't stop it or control it. The feeling of her flesh being hacked off made her lungs want to burst. Finally, Damon clapped a hand over her mouth to muffle her cries.

"Elena, be quiet," he moaned. "Klaus could hear you and come down here."

For his sake, she tried to quiet down, but it wasn't a pleasant process. The screaming somehow took the edge off of the pain, and when she didn't have some sort of outlet for her turmoil, it bottled up inside of her like fizzy soda. Her eyes swelled up with tears, and she held her breath until her face turned blue.

With all of her focus on trying not to scream, Elena didn't realize Damon had finished cutting until she heard the clang of the knife hitting the floor and looked down to see her blood and skin in piles at her feet. At this point, she decided it was best that she not look at her arm, because the sight of it would probably take her over the edge and she really didn't want to throw up right now.

"Did it work?" she panted furiously.

He examined her arm gingerly with his fingertips, his nose wrinkled. "I think so. We caught it early enough, and pretty much cut out all of the infected area. Somehow, I think we just invented another cure for a wolf bite."

"I'd settle for a little vial of Klaus' blood, but I guess this will do."

"How do you feel?"

He set her arm down on her lap, and she looked up, avoiding it with her eyes. "Not dead, which is good. But, Damon, this isn't going to heal."

"I got that covered." He sank his fangs into his wrist just like you would an apple and held it out for her, waving it in front of her mouth. "Come on. Don't be shy."  
She sighed. "Thank you," she said, sincerely, and placed her mouth around the crescent mark he had left her. This time his blood tasted familiar because she had had it before. It still wasn't as satisfying as human blood, but she immediately felt her arm heal up. It took a long time, because she it was a large gaping hole in her flesh, but eventually, the blood grew more skin cells that replaced the old ones. She could finally stand to look at it now.

"Now what?" she asked him, rubbing the back of her hand over her mouth.

"Now," he held on to her shoulders and helped her up. "We get out of here."

Just then, one of the hybrids, who had been standing there silently, bent over and a seriously disgusting cough erupted from his throat. He grasped at his stomach and covered his mouth. When he held out his hands again, they were both painted deep red.

Then, without warning, he blew up into a thin pink mist.

* * *

The explosion was small, contained, but more were to come.

It was enough force to put Elena on her back. Bits of bone and crumbles of the basement's stone cement walls shot at her all over, leaving gashes and bruises where they hit. Her head collided with something hard, leaving a throbbing bump just above her neck.

Knowing there was no time to lie there, no time to think not even time to breathe, she instantly got up. As she stood, she realized that the hard thing she had fallen into was Damon's ribcage. He was left panting from the explosion as well, with minimal injuries it seemed. Elena sighed in relief.

He looked her up and down, grimacing as he popped his arm back into place. "You okay?"

"Yeah. You?"

He nodded. "We don't have time for this," he said through his teeth. "The rest are about to go off. We got lucky this time, but we won't make it through a whole handful of these explosions."

She knew he was right. Obviously, Klaus had intended for all of the hybrids to go off at the same time, and this one in particular had been an early bloomer. Remarkably, this actually worked to their advantage. Now they were prepared. They had a warning. All that was left to do was make an escape plan.

And there luck just kept going. As Elena whirled around, searching the basement for anything that could help them get out, she noticed what had happened as a result of the explosion. In the wall behind the remains of the hybrid's body was a hole, about three feet wide and two feet tall. And when she looked through this hole, Elena realized that they weren't in a basement at all.

Because outside there was clear and unobstructed sky. They were probably on the second floor or third floor of whatever this place was, which made Elena extremely happy.

"Damon, look." She nudged his elbow and pointed at the hole. "The explosion blew out a portion of the wall."

His eyes widened and he flashed with vampire speed through the puddle of blood and flesh and bone to stick his head into the opening. She understood that he was checking to make sure no one was around so they could leave. They were actually going to leave.

He turned around. "Let's make this quick. C'mon."

Before Klaus could figure out that they were escaping and kill them himself or another hybrid burst into miniscule chunks, Elena leapt through the hole and landed on her feet in the wild and unattended grass outside. Moments later and Damon was beside her. He kissed her fiercely on her lips, enjoying their instant of freedom while it lasted, and then they disappeared, leaving this place behind them.

* * *

Klaus laid his hand out flat on the desk, feeling the ground shaking and rumbling underneath his skin. Finally, the final explosion was over.

He smiled to himself, feeling no remorse in the fact that he would never have to put up with those two ever again, as he bounded down several flights of stairs until he reached the dark room that he had kept them in. He wanted to see their blown up bodies for himself.

The smell of rotting flesh greeted him when he arrived, along with the leftover sound of sizzling fires scattered along the floor. To ensure that Damon and Elena were actually dead, he began scouring through the bloody bones that were in piles at his feet. Without his servants, he had to do the work himself, but the gory scene didn't bother him. He'd seen much worse in his lifetime.

He used his knowledge of forensics to count up the bones and managed to stock all five hybrids' corpses, and dug through to find the other two's.

But they weren't there.

Angrily, he checked over the bones again and again. He got the same number every time. Five hybrids. That was it. That was all that was left. Damon and Elena were still alive. They had escaped.

Klaus slammed the bone in his hand to the ground and snarled.

He pulled out his phone and typed a message: time for Plan B.

The message was sent to Kol.

**AN: So this was chapter fourteen, hopefully getting this story back into the game of suspense and startling surprises! It's all coming together! Every chapter plays a part in the epic ending! Duh duh duh!**

** And I know this is long overdue, but I would like to thank a million times over a few of my very loyal reviewers. Karolina94, xElinneax, missing-in-venice, JessJunkey, and if there are any others that I've missed please tell me and I will definitely give you a shout out next chapter! But these guys right here are what make up my story; it would be nothing without you! Its awesome when I publish a new chapter and get excited about what you guys will think!**

** Okay, I'll wrap this up now. The chapter 15 synopsis:**

_**WE'RE NOT IN KANSAS ANYMORE—Elena, overwhelmed with the recent events, dreams of what her life could have been like had some things gone differently.**_


	15. Chapter 15

**Just to let you know, the first section of this chapter is the only (well, I don't know how to put this)…present tense or reality part of the entire chapter. The rest is all in Elena's dream!**

* * *

"You coming?" Damon murmured, drowsily from the bed. There was an empty space beside him, and Elena smiled as she slipped under the sheet and nestled into his side.

This, right here, was one of her favorite places in the world. With Damon next to her, feeling his heart on her skin and inhaling the sweet smell that came from his hair. They didn't have to talk or kiss or anything like that because just being together was enough. She was so glad that hey were here and not still locked up in Klaus' confinements. A warm and comforting feeling seeped throughout in her chest.

But lately she couldn't help but wonder if this moment would have ever happened if her life had been different. Thinking about the past, present, and future always made her appreciate the delicate string of events that led her here and how easily everything could have changed. What if her parents had never died? What if the car crash hadn't happened at all and that May two years ago hadn't changed her life whatsoever?

She knew that the connection between her and Damon would be completely different. She wouldn't have been able to get to know him at all in the same way that she did now because honestly she never would have even found out about the secret of vampires in the first place. She definitely wouldn't be one right now, that's for sure.

And as for her other friends and Stefan, Elena had no idea. Stefan had no reason to introduce himself to her because he never saved her that night. They would still be strangers. Maybe even to Matt, Bonnie, Caroline, and the others…

As Elena drifted to sleep, she wondered.

* * *

"Elena!" her mother called. "You're going to be late."

She rolled her eyes, adjusted her orange sweater so it fell daintily over her jeans, and bounded down the stairs into the kitchen where she planted a kiss on her father's cheek.

"Morning, daddy." A strawberry pastry popped up from the toaster as she passed by and she took it out, not bothering to ask whose it was. "What is on the agenda for my parents today?"

Her mother took a sip of coffee, and glanced casually at her husband. "Well we both have the day off so we thought about going out to look at some kitchen tables. Ours is getting pretty dinged up."

"But we just got a new one two months ago."

"Yes," her father agreed. "But it wasn't the right color. So we're getting a new one."

"Alright, fine. You're getting a new one," she said, a little defensively. She was used to not knowing what her parents were up to. Every few weeks they would both be off of work at the same time and when Elena asked what they did they would avoid the question or give some really ridiculous answer. Honestly, Elena assumed that all parents kept some secrets from their kids. In some ways, she was thankful for that.

The glowing clock on the back of the stove caught her eye and she realized how late she was. She quickly grabbed her bag from the couch and said goodbye to her parents over her shoulder. As she opened the front door, she slammed into someone who was standing there to stop her.

At first, Elena was terrified. Then she took a step back and really saw whom it was.

All dressed up in a deep green suit with bright colorful badges pinned around the breast pocket and an empty holster slung over his chest, Jeremy smiled at her. His hands were together behind his back, his posture so perfect that Elena almost didn't recognize him. She squealed and jumped into his arms.

"Jeremy!" she laughed as he swung her around in circles. "Oh my god, Jeremy, you're back. I missed you."

"I missed you too," he said into her hair. "But I've been having a lot of fun at military school. It's not as bad you would think."

She playfully punched his arm. "Well how would I know? You never call, you jerk! The only times I hear from you are the e-mails you send mom and dad. Speaking of," she turned around and called out loudly. "Mom! Dad! Jer's home!"

As expected, neither of them rushed in as quickly as Elena did. Although their faces were excited and happy, they greeted Jeremy as if he were a colleague or a business associate. He shook his father's hand and kissed his mother on both of her cheeks.

"Hello, mother. Father." His voice didn't sound like Jeremy's at all, and this made Elena frown.

"You got in at the worst possible moment," she told him, biting her lip. "I have to get to school now, but we will definitely hang out as soon as I get home, okay? Wait for me, please."

He nodded, and then went upstairs to his old room to unpack his one small bag.

"Be nice to him," Elena murmured to her parents, quietly, as she edged out the door. "He only gets to visit once every few months and it's only for a weekend at a time. He wants to make up with you. So, please, try to be civil?"

Feeling like somehow she had become the parent instead of the child, Elena left for school.

* * *

Caroline leafed through the many jackets and coats that hung on the small hook by the door until she finally located her grayish trench coat and light purple scarf. Sheriff Forbes came bounding down the stairs just as she was carefully pulling her curls out from underneath the scarf.

These days, they hardly bothered with pleasantries. Besides, her mom was a cop; she always got straight to business. "Okay, so you remembered to study for the Spanish test right?"

"Well, if you count texting Juan Rodriguez all night as studying Spanish, than yes," she blushed.

Her mother's face was not amused. "Caroline…" she began.

She sighed. "I admit it. I am weak when it comes to baby soft hair and dreamy brown eyes. But aren't we all?"

Liz slid her arms into her beefy sheriff's jacket and pinned on her shiny badge that caught the light when she moved. "Not me. I settled for a hazel with a receding hairline, but at least I can say more than 'where is the bathroom' in Spanish. Anyway, my car broke down so your father will be driving me to work today."

"You mean _step_father?"

"I don't know, stepfather sounds kind of fairytale evil to me, so I thought I was doing you a favor," she shrugged. As she finished speaking, Alaric trotted in from the kitchen holding a smooth brown paper bag in his hand. Already in his coat, he unlocked the front door and held it open for them.

When Caroline went by, he handed her the sack. "Almost forgot your lunch."

"Thanks, dad," she replied, smiling.

He pulled Liz into a warm embrace as she tried to make it out the door. Her face flushed pink and he kissed her three short times on the lips. "Morning, pumpkin," he mumbled against her face.

She could only blush and try not to giggle as he led her to his car.

* * *

Damon kept his expression blank as Mrs. Lockwood continued her droning story on some dead guy who did some cool thing in history and was born in Mystic Falls. Or did he move here afterwards? He didn't know, and seriously didn't care.

The council meeting had been going on for only about fifteen minutes now, but he already wanted to tear off the leg of the nearest coffee table and drive it into his own heart. Not one single person here in the Lockwood house had anything interesting to say, or anything to say at all besides the same boring history lessons that he had heard a million and one times. But Mrs. Lockwood seemed oblivious to this fact as she explained the connection of her story and today's meeting. Damon almost dozed off right there.

However, he did notice when the Gilberts walked in, hand in hand as always, and instantly greeted by several other people. They were so praised among the council, and had even caught Damon's eye.

But the only reason he gave a crap about them was because of their daughter. When he had first heard about the girl his brother was obsessed with, the one who looked almost exactly like Katherine, he had to see for himself. He wasn't disappointed.

So when he figured out that her parents were a part of the council, he had to know more. This was why he had taken an interest in them, more than any of the other pretentious founders, and discovered that they were different from the rest in the way that they actually had a smidge of intelligence in them.

"Excuse me, Carol," Damon said smoothly, interrupting her mid-word, and went to stand by Miranda by the window as her husband went in the direction of the small bar.

"Ah Damon," she said. "Great to see you again."

"We've got to stop meeting like this," he teased. They always started the conversation off with innocent teasing, and Damon put on his best pleasant smile. But he still worried that some of his boredom and menace was leaking through. If it was than she didn't notice.

Miranda's voice became serious. "Did you hear about the recent hospital break-in? At least half of the entire blood supply was gone when the doctors came in the next morning. Most of it was B negative, so obviously it was a vampire with a specific appetite."

"How did they get through?" he asked.

Her face fell. "We didn't have enough in the budget to hire enough security guards. When you've only got a few running all day and all night, mistakes are made—especially when we are talking about a super-enhanced vampire. Luckily, no one's pressing charges against the guards, but we've got to come up with that money soon."

"I'm guessing that's why Carol called this meeting today, right? So she can bury her hands in our pockets?"

"Actually," she corrected him. "I called it, and I want nothing to do with your pockets, just your time. We decided to throw a fundraiser to raise the money. It's a bake sale, so basically brownies and cake and whatever else you can get overpriced and expired. But a few of us need to go over to the high school and announce it, so we nominated you and Mrs. Lockwood. You don't mind do you?"

Damon scrunched up his face like he had just struck out in a game of baseball. The last thing he wanted to do right now was go talk in front of a bunch of snot-nosed children, but he just had to add it to the list of things he had to do in order to gain the trust of the council.

"Not at all," he said through his teeth.

"Fantastic. In fact, you can say hi to my daughter for me. She'll be in Mr. Tanner's history class, the one you're presenting to. I'd like her to meet a gentleman like you. Maybe you'll have a positive influence on her. I don't know about that Matt boy she's been on and off with for months. The star of the football team, popular guy…it always spells trouble."

Damon grinned at the mentioning of her daughter, hoping she would slip in a name anywhere. He didn't want to seem inconsiderate because he had no idea what her daughter's name was. He should know, but he'd been so preoccupied with her face that it didn't seem important. "Well, put in a good word for me then."

* * *

Elena glanced to the front of the classroom.

"What was that?" Caroline demanded. They were sitting up on top of the desks, chatting in the last few minutes before the bell. Caroline had been trying to talk about them possibly going shopping together this weekend, but Elena wasn't paying attention. "That's the third time you've gawked at Matt today alone. I don't get it. You guys broke up the night of that bonfire sophomore year."

"It doesn't mean we still can't flirt," she told her as she waved to Matt and he winked back at her. "Besides, a secret boyfriend is much more fun than an exclusive one. My best friend should know that better than anyone."

Caroline yanked Elena's waving arm down. "It does sound fun, but you and Matt broke up for a reason. Just because you're not officially going out doesn't mean that you two want the same things now."

"Doesn't mean I still can't have my sexy, flirty, undercover fun."

She laughed at her. "O-m-g, look who just walked in. The wicked witch of the south."

Elena turned around to see Bonnie walking quickly into class with her head down. She always did this: never making eye contact with anyone as she sat down. She held her books tightly to her chest as if someone was going to take them. Elena could only barely remember that time when her and Bonnie were best friends. Then she started not coming to school as much, and when she did it wasn't very social. She started acting so strange. Somehow, it made Elena think of a teenage boy who had just gone through puberty.

For the first time in months, Bonnie raised her head and locked eyes with Elena. It was just for a moment, but Elena knew they were both trying to say the same thing.

Caroline nudged her arm. "Now watch S.S. Hottie."

As sophisticated as this code was, Elena understood what she meant and subtly glanced sideways at Stefan Salvatore in the back of the room.

"Wait for it…." Caroline whispered. "There."

Right on cue, Stefan's leaf green eyes flickered to where Bonnie was sitting and organizing her books, only he didn't look away. Every morning, the wordless teenager would stare at Bonnie for longer than was polite as if he saw something in her that no one else could. Sometimes it gave Elena chills, like what went on between them was something she should be afraid of.

But Caroline would only be freaked out by it. "What a creeper."

Elena blew a little air out of her nose in a half-hearted laugh. But she couldn't shift her thoughts away from the connection between Stefan and Bonnie.

Just then, the bell rang and Mr. Tanner walked in with his coach's whistle still around his neck. He always had it on during class, so it obviously wasn't there because he had forgotten about it.

"Settle down," he addressed the class. "We've got a couple of visitors today to talk about Fundraising Night. Just sit back and listen to what they have to say, and then we'll finish up Thursday's notes."

There was an excited murmur through the crowd. No one minded a free day.

Mrs. Lockwood walked into the classroom, clacking with her heels, and a dark-haired man with a leather jacket followed her. It didn't take long for Elena to connect his face to a name. Damon Salvatore, Stefan's brother—though he made no face when he saw Damon walk in. Her parents had mentioned Damon once or twice, and she'd seen him around town as well. Apparently, he was in with the mayor and the sheriff and all of her parents' days spent 'buying kitchen tables'.

"Hello, everyone," Mrs. Lockwood said through her plastic smile. "I'm sure you've all heard about what is going to be going on this Sunday. To raise funds for charity, the mayor and I have decided to host a Fundraising Night. Anyone can bring anything they want to bake such as cookies, cakes, or cupcakes. Besides the sales, you can enjoy free food and entertainment. Anything you want to add Damon?"

Damon looked like he would rather be anywhere else but here. He quickly gathered his expression and put on a see-through smile similar to Carol's. "I think you got it all, Carol."

As Mrs. Lockwood kept talking, Matt turned around from three seats ahead and grinned at Elena. She blushed, grabbed her notebook and a pencil, and tore out a sheet of paper. In her slanted handwriting, she simply wrote _hey _and doodled a few hearts around the solitary word. The paper was then folded as many times as possible and tossed in his direction.

He checked around to make sure no one was watching then picked it up and wrote out a reply. But he wasn't unnoticeable enough. Mr. Tanner caught sight of him and went to stand by his desk.

"Got something to share with the whole class, Matt?" he asked, loud enough for everyone to hear. "Obviously, this is something more important than the wonder that is Fundraising Night."

Carol grimaced.

Matt looked up. "Uh, um…just getting a head start on my notes for the test, Mr. Tanner."

"Really?" The spiteful teacher held out his hand for the paper and unfolded it. His eyes skimmed the words written and pictures drawn. His smile was vengeful. "So, Elena, _will _you meet him in the stoner's pit after class?"

The other students giggled.

Elena's neck and ears flushed a warm red, and two dozen pairs of eyes bored into the back of her head. But she decided to play it cool. "Actually, Mr. Tanner, would you tell him the sooner the better?"

Now the others made an _ooh_ sound.

Mr. Tanner's lips tightened into a hard line. He tore up the piece of paper and threw it away. "Please excuse the interruption, Mrs. Lockwood. It won't happen again."

Carol tried to ignore what just happened as she dove back into her speech, absolutely under the impression that they were actually listening. As Elena sank back in her seat, still shaken from saying something like that to a teacher, she noticed that Damon was looking at her.

They locked eyes for a moment, but then he turned away as if nothing had happened at all.

* * *

"Fezite busche ve incarsera," Bonnie murmured under her breath with her head tipped into her open locker as far as it would go.

Grams had told her to practice as much as possible, and being in the middle of a school day wasn't going to stop her from that. So today she was rearranging the books piled in her locker with a simple levitating spell.

She had completely forgotten to be inconspicuous when a loud voice boomed from behind her.

"What the hell, freak?" shouted Tyler Lockwood.

The books fell to the base of the locker as Bonnie whirled around to see him standing there, muscles tight, surrounded by a group of his hostile friends. They were all just as stunned as he was.

Maybe it was Bonnie's slightly new reputation as the town curmudgeon that didn't help them with what they had seen. And what they had seen was Bonnie lifted up objects with just a look.

In her head, she saw exactly how she wanted this to go.

"I can explain this," she said in a strong voice.

"How?"

"Well," she began. "I actually can't tell you the whole story, but I would like you to promise me that you won't tell anybody what you saw?"

They paused for a moment. Then Tyler nodded. "Okay, sure. If it means that much to you then we'll keep our mouths shut."

But that was all in her head. In reality, the pack of angry boys was still waiting for her to say something, but she couldn't. Words refused to form in her mouth. Her body refused to move. She was stuck. Frozen.

"Let's keep the halls moving, fellas," came a smooth, quiet voice. The boys parted so Bonnie could see that Stefan Salvatore was standing behind them with a deadly glare.

"Stay out of this, pretty boy," Tyler retorted. "This chick is messed up and we're going to handle it."

"Handle it?" Stefan repeated. He took a slow step forward. "Well, thank you for your concern, Tyler, but I will take it from here."

Bonnie stiffened. Stefan Salvatore showing up here was completely abnormal. She had never even talked to the guy before in her life. To be honest, he always kind of scared her. And now she couldn't decide whether him interfering was a good thing or a bad thing.

Tyler's face turned red with fury. "No way. Get lost, man, or I'm gonna—"

Suddenly, Stefan whirled around to face Tyler and his friends and all Bonnie could see was his back. But something about his expression must have been frightening because the boys couldn't look away.

"How about you get to class and forget everything you saw?" Stefan murmured to them in a dream-like voice.

Remarkably, Tyler calmed down and walked away. The others followed him, their postures like machines.

Once they were out of sight, Stefan turned around and gave Bonnie a nod.

The nod said everything that he didn't. It had understanding, belief, friendship, truth, and peace all baked right in to that one little jerk of his head. At that moment, Bonnie realized that Stefan was more than just a hot new student. He had secrets of his own. He knew about her and her magic, and he understood. They could be friends in their knowledge and look out for each other.

She nodded back at him, and loved how it felt for someone to finally know about her.

* * *

Elena paused at the edge of the stoner's pit, which was basically an abandoned loading dock for the milk trucks where everybody would smoke. In fact, you could hardly see what it used to look like, because it was so completely covered in colorful spray paint and discarded cigarette butts.

Matt was sitting on a bucket a few yards away with his back to her. She tiptoed over to him and covered his eyes with her hands.

"Guess who."

It was a pathetic and cliché girl move on her part, but he laughed along with it. "Surely it's Elena and not one of my other girlfriends…"

She giggled and adjusted her bag on her shoulder as he stood up to face her. "Well, I'm here," she said. "You wanted to talk to me?"

"Yeah, I do." He started to tap his fingers against his hip, something he did when he was nervous. "My mom came home yesterday, drunk with a guy. And…I kicked her out. Told her she had to go screw around with the lame-o somewhere else."

"Oh my god, Matt. That's serious," she murmured, placing her hand on his shoulder. "How do you feel?"

"Actually, it felt good to finally say that to her. Then, this morning, she showed up at the door again. We talked and she said that this was her house and she had every right to live there. Apparently, I'm the one who should be worried about getting kicked out."

Elena's response was angry. "No way. She can't do that, can she? You pay the mortgage on the house! She can't kick you out—"

"Yes, she can, Elena," he interrupted her. "Her name is on all of the payments. As far as any judge is concerned, she's the owner. And who is going to take my word over hers?"

"So, what are you going to do?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. But I do know that I'm not staying there anymore. I want to move out, start anew chapter in my life, you know?"

"Of course," she agreed, impressed by his take-charge attitude.

"And," he added, suddenly wrapping his hands around hers. "I've been thinking, about this a lot today, and I decided that I want you to come with me. You told me how your parents keep secrets from you and they hate your brother now. We both just want to get out of this town, so why don't we? Run away with me, Elena."

* * *

Caroline held up her rectangular white dish as Miranda opened the door for her. "Hi, Mrs. Gilbert," she said. "I brought lasagna. I was hoping I could join you guys for dinner before we head off to Fundraising Night."

Miranda hesitated. "Well, Caroline, I'd love for you to join us, but Elena's not here."

"What?"

"Yeah, I thought she was with you," she told her.

Caroline scrunched up her forehead in thought, thinking maybe Elena and her had made plans to hang out and she had forgotten. But just as she expected, they had never agreed on plans.

"No, definitely not. So if she's not here, and she's not with me…where is she?"

* * *

Damon watched half of the town as they hustled around from booth to booth in the backyard of the Lockwood mansion. People pushed and shoved as if the goods that were being sold were worth more than two cents and they just had to get their hands on it first. But in reality, all he saw was a bunch of junk, and even trashier people.

If his presence at this ridiculous fundraiser wasn't necessary than he'd be at the bar right now, drinking or having a nice meal. Either one.

He continually glanced at the watch of the guy in the booth closest to him. Soon, he would have clocked in enough time that he could say goodbye and haul ass.

Then there was something in the crowd that sparked his interest. Miranda Gilbert was tearing her way through the crowds and the expression on her face assured Damon that she wasn't rushing to buy a lemon meringue pie. It was a cross between worry and terror. Damon chased her down a few feet then tapped her on the shoulder.

"Miranda?" he called. "Something wrong?"

At first it seemed like she was debating whether to answer him or keep walking. Then she finally sighed. "Have you seen Elena anywhere? She never came home after school so I figured she was here."

"Your daughter? No, I haven't seen her, but I will definitely help you look." He nodded toward the end of the yard where they were hosting a relay race. "I'll check over there. Call me if you find her."

As she raced off, he smiled to himself. Finding her daughter would win him big points in the council.

* * *

"I don't know about this, Matt," Elena voiced her worries as she followed him close on his heels through the crowd of people in the Lockwood's backyard. "If we're going to run then we should just go. What if my parents see me here?"

"I left my keys with Tyler. We're probably going to need a car, right?"

She sighed, but said nothing more.

That was when she actually began to think about what they were doing. She was really running away; they might even get married. Two years ago, this would have been incredibly crazy. But then her parents sent Jeremy off to military school, and everything changed. Since then, she didn't trust her mom and dad the same way. Besides, home was different with Jeremy gone. It made sense to leave. It was time.

She and Matt would both find jobs wherever they settled. They had with them at least five hundred dollars. Starter money, he had called it. Hopefully, that would get them by until they could support themselves. And then they would spend the rest of their lives surviving on minimum wage in dirty apartments. But there had to be a bright side.

"Elena?" called Jeremy's voice from behind her. Both her and Matt stopped dead in their tracks.

She turned to Matt. "Go on. I'll catch up with you."

He gave her a _don't-chicken-out_ look of warning then disappeared into the crowd.

"Jeremy, what are you doing here?" she asked him, trying to act casually because he still didn't know that she hadn't come home from school today. "I mean…why are you here."

"Well you said we were going to hang out this afternoon, so when I heard there was a fundraiser going on I just considered that this is where you would be."

All of a sudden, she remembered promising him that. "Oh right. I'm so sorry, Jeremy. I totally forgot about that. But I'm kind of busy now. Some other time?"

The words got stuck in her throat like glue. They were just empty promises, and it hurt to lie to his face like that. There wouldn't be a next time, and she was well aware of that while he wasn't. She was leaving town tonight for good. And when he finally realized this, he would recall this moment and know that what she told him wasn't the truth. He was her brother, and he definitely deserved a better goodbye.

"Actually, scratch that," she went on. "I want to give you something for you to keep when you leave for school again." Elena held up her arm and untied a leather-braided bracelet from around her wrist. "This is yours now. Here you go."

He held it in his palm. "Wow, thanks. Are you sure you want to give this to me?"

She waved him off. "Yeah, of course I'm sure. Besides if you or I want more than I can just make another. Mom taught me how to braid it and it's even scented. I wanted to use jasmine but she said to use this flower called vervain or something like that. I guess it smells really good, but I haven't noticed to be honest."

Jeremy sniffed the bracelet. "Me neither. Well, thanks again. This whole military outfit needed some jewelry anyway."

"Just a smidge," she laughed. "I guess I have to go now, but I'll see you later."

"Goodbye, Elena," he murmured, and there was so much sincerity behind his words that Elena wondered if somehow he knew that they were never going to see each other again.

She took in the sight of him smiling at her the way a little brother should, storing it in the file cabinet of her memories. Suddenly, her eyes and nose were stinging like they had been soaked in acid. A single tear dewed up but she quickly blinked it away.

And Jeremy went with it.

* * *

Surely a face like hers shouldn't be too hard to find, Damon thought to himself as he circled the west end of the backyard. He had had a hard time looking for Elena until he spotted her standing behind a lemon bar booth, just standing. She reached up and wiped away moisture from under her eyes.

He slowly approached her so that she wouldn't be alarmed. "Elena?"

She glanced up, startled. "Oh, um, yeah that's me," Elena replied leisurely. "What do you want?"

"Your mother sent me. She said you never came home from school today. I'm glad I found you, though. She seemed really worried."

"No offense, Damon, but I have to wonder why you suddenly want to kiss my mother's ass," she said, bitingly. "You don't seem like the look-for-the-lost-child type, if you know what I mean."

Damon held up his hands in defense. "I'm not going to lie to you, Elena. Your mother is a powerful woman on the Mystic Falls totem pole. Doing her a favor would give me some brownie points. But that doesn't mean I still don't enjoy the ethical reward to it."

The way that he wasn't fazed by her accusation must have surprised her. Maybe he was just placating her so she would go with him back to her mother. Whatever it was, it seemed to make Elena realize something and she looked up at him with an apologetic expression. A sigh left her lips.

"I'm sorry," she murmured. "It was sweet of you to come looking for me, but I don't need you to. I'm leaving town tonight. Matt and I are running away, but I'll be fine. Will you tell my mom that?"

Damon raised his eyebrows and tried to start a coherent sentence, but failed. "You mean to say that you are letting that cheese-for-brains football star drag you out to see the world at eighteen years old?"

"He's not as bad as you think."

He scoffed. "Any dumber and you'd see him using his own brain as a paperweight."

This made her giggle, and Damon used her moment of weakness to pull a sympathetic expression. He gestured toward a stone bench just under a large sycamore tree a few steps away from them. "Would you like to sit down?"

It only took her a moment of deliberation before she took a seat beside him on the bench. "Are you sure my mom won't see me over here?"

"Not until you want her to," he promised in a low voice. "Now why the sudden urge to see Mystic Falls in your rearview? Or is it the boy?"

She ignored his second question. "This has been a long-time coming, believe me. I used to have this normal life with normal friends. Then my brother got sent away to military school and it felt like the last person who understood me had abandoned me. All of a sudden, my parents started keeping all these secrets from me like I was a stranger to them, my best friend turned into a pariah, and no one seems to have any care at all that the world has just been ripped out from underneath my feet. I want to put it back," she explained. "By leaving, I am putting the world back under my feet."

After she was finished talking, Elena stared at her feet, embarrassed that she had said too much and probably curious as to why she had. Damon hadn't noticed until now that she wasn't wearing vervain, but she was at no risk of being compelled by him. He was in too deep now.

"You want my advice?" he asked her. "That's life. Sometimes it's hard, a lot of times it sucks, and most of the times you feel like you can't even get out of bed in the morning. But you do and occasionally," he paused to make eye contact with her, and he realized he had lost control of his expressions. "Occasionally you find out that it was worth it."

Could she tell that it felt like swallowing nails when he gave positive life advice? Could she even imagine how much his words didn't apply to himself? Was it ironic that _he_ was the one assuring her that things would get better eventually?

All of these questions were sucked into the recesses of his mind as Elena smiled back at him.

It was a while before she said anything. "I'll stay and go back to my mom on one condition."

He waited, patiently, for her to explain.

"You have to tell me what my mom and dad are hiding from me, because I know you know. And I also know that you aren't afraid to tell me. Right now, you are probably the only person I want to hear it from."

Damon's eyes widened. She had just said that she trusted him, in so many words. The feeling left a tingling sensation running up and down through every one of his nerves. This was a new feeling, one he had never experience before. But it was such a high that it reminded him of feeding, but better.

He sighed. "You're never going to believe me."

"Try me."

He knew she was strong enough to know this. Something about her made him imagine her as a vampire herself. She wasn't like Caroline or Mrs. Lockwood or any of the other materialistic women he had met in his life. Elena was prepared to know the truth. He sighed again, heavier this time, but he used his new high like a spurge of adrenaline to say what he was going to tell her.

"It pretty much started in 1864, when Mystic Falls was founded…."

**AN: So I hope you liked this chapter and its kind of messed up virtual world like theme. I got this idea a while ago to do a 'what if' chapter and I've been so excited to post it! But just so there is no confusion, the next chapter is going to be back to normal.**

** Also, just to give my wonderful audience an update on how season five of the Vampire Diaries is coming along, I watched a news reel on how there is going to be a new character named Aaron or something and he is kind of going to be a new love interest for Elena because they share a sad past. Both their parents are dead I think. Now doesn't this remind you of something? I'll just tell you: Ash! Either I have like this ESP or Julie Plec has been taking ideas from my fanfiction! Anyway, I just wanted to make sure you know that my guy came first!**

**Oh well! Here's the synopsis for chapter sixteen:**

_** SIBLING RIVALRY- Elena makes a discovery that will help them against Klaus, and Damon and Stefan find themselves at odds in trying to help her with it. Jeremy gets information from an old friend that will change everything. Caroline urges Lucy to reveal the truth of her secret. Finally, Kol makes a decision that will be unforgivable.** _


	16. Chapter 16

"Okay, so what about Phil?" Elena wondered, as her and Damon strode hand in hand along the outer banks of the creek just a kilometer or two away from Lucy's house. "Can I miss him?"

"Phil, really?" he politely teased. "That hybrid was a klutz-o-maniac, a falling hazard. He found a way to face plant on any surface he was on."

She laughed, lightly. "Alright, he wasn't graceful, but he had good manners and I liked that about him."

"Don't even get me started on that short strawberry blonde one. Katie? Yeah, definitely don't miss her. Bit of a thief around the barn, or so I heard."

Elena sighed. "This isn't working. Whether we liked them or not, the hybrids are all dead. Killed, by none other than Klaus himself. I miss them. And you can pick on them all you want, but I know you do too."

"Not to mention it's a total waste of our resources." Damon's face was unhappy, but if it was because Elena was right and he did miss the hybrids or because Elena was unhappy herself, she didn't know. His hand squeezed hers. "Don't worry about them. Besides, we've got a bigger mess on our hands."

"You mean the fact that we took a chance on attempting to kill Kol and it epically failed, so now he probably wants to kill Jeremy for it?" she groaned.

"Yeah," he said under his breath. "That one."

She sighed, for what was probably the fifteenth time that day. "Remember what Kol said? Either Jeremy gives him the information he needs or dies, along with half of Mystic Falls."

"Let's just worry about Jeremy right now, okay?" he rolled his head upward to the sun and back down as he was speaking. "Besides, he is still an asset to Kol as long he doesn't have the stake."

"Dagger, now," she corrected him.

"Whatever. It's ours, and that's all that matters. We'll think of something. Just relax."

It was hard for her to relax what with the new headache slowly crawling its way up her temple like a mountain-climber with cleats on. The sunlight piercing down on her became burning streaks across her eyesight. Small noises amplified as if they were in front of a microphone.

But she didn't worry. Lately it seemed like the times her head didn't throb with pain were less often than the times it did, such as when she collapsed from the pain of her headache the other day. Lucy said it was probably due to the channeling sessions and how quickly she cut them off. It was normal, for the most part.

But then she realized that Damon was talking, actually saying words to her that got lost in the journey from his mouth to her eardrum. She watched him speak, but he was on mute. It was most likely due to the crescendo of shrill ringing bouncing around inside her skull.

She held out a hand to stop Damon as they were walking. She couldn't make out if he asked her what was wrong or not.

Then her vision disappeared along with her hearing. The whole world and all that was around her became white, endless white. It was at that point that she realized she was either fainting again, or something supernatural was happening. Oddly enough, she preferred the former.

Like with all dizzy spells, the dreams came.

She was standing in a shadowy corner of a large circular room that seemed to have two personalities. There were several pieces of furniture. Some of them were lavish velvet chairs and couches, while the rest of them were covered in dusty white sheets. It was dimly lit, aside from the rays of sunshine that came in through the window and made every dust mite sparkle.

Different than other dreams, Elena was completely conscious of her thoughts and emotions. When she wanted to move a finger, it moved. This was never a possibility before. It was obvious then that this wasn't a dream.

Klaus paced back and forth in the middle of the room. Fear kicked in at the sight of him, triggering the painful memories of her first and hopefully last wolf bite. But then it became clear that he couldn't see her. She was invisible to everything in the room. Her body was still where she had left it, but her mind was watching Klaus pace because it was actually happening.

All he did was pace, and now that Elena knew the circumstances, she wished he would do more.

After a few moments, the picture inevitably faded out. The trip back into her body was slightly jarring and uncomfortable. But then her eyes fluttered open, and she looked around to see that she was lying on their bed, face up over the covers. Damon was sitting beside her, and he pressed the back of his hand to her forehead, briefly.

"Damon?"

He smiled, but his expression was worried. "You okay?"

"I think so," she murmured, sitting up straight. "Better thank okay, actually. I had this dream, but it was real. And I saw Klaus. He was pacing back in his house in Mystic Falls."

"Whoa, slow down." He felt her forehead again, as if he had missed something the first time. "I think you're sick again. Lucy said it was normal—"

"No, listen to me, Damon. I think, as a result of all the channeling that my mind gets all tangled up with Klaus' and I can see where he is at the moment and what he is doing."

He sighed. Elena wasn't surprised that he didn't believe. She understood how crazy it must have looked, her passing out and then waking up claiming that she could see all the way to Mystic Falls. But then Damon's eyes turned from skeptic to understanding.

"Are you sure that's what you saw? Because, if you are, then this is bigger than you and me, Elena. So, are you sure?"

"Positive. I can't explain how, but I felt that it was real."

When Damon spoke again, it wasn't addressed to her. "I hope you don't make it a habit of spying on other people's rooms."

She was puzzled until Stefan, with his hands in his pockets and face complacent, walked in. He must have been listening by the doorway, because he looked between the two of them and he knew.

"Damon's right," he said. "If your dream was real, than this could change everything."

Damon didn't like Stefan agreeing with him. "Or maybe we should wait to see how this effects her. Just channeling Klaus alone was too much for her at times. I mean

I know we're behind in this idiotic game, but risking Elena's health isn't worth getting us ahead."

"But it is those moments of weakness that trigger the dreams," he explained taking a step closer.

"Or so you think."

"Wait a minute here," Elena intercepted. "This is my decision. And I want to try to find out more about what Klaus is up to in Mystic Falls. I need to know if Jeremy is still alive, and Klaus might have the answers to that."

Neither of them could argue with this.

"Fine," Damon spat in defeat. "Whatever you say, Elena."

* * *

"Now why did you bring _her_?" Kol accused Elijah in a whiny voice as Elijah climbed the front steps to the Gilbert house with Rebekah at his side. "You know what a snitch she can be."

Rebekah managed to keep her face blank.

"Well, Kol, I thought if you can conspire with Niklaus than I might as well let Rebekah in on this," Elijah explained in his even tone. "Can't just let the men have all the fun, can we?"

Kol looked at his sister and smiled big, showing all of his teeth. "Of course not. Now, I'm sure you've figured out by now the purpose of my calling to you."

Elijah took a step back and evaluated the house from where he was on the porch. "I am the only one of us who has been invited into the Gilbert house, so you will be needing my assistance because you want something inside."

"Not something," he corrected. "Someone."

Instantly, Elijah's head snapped back down to glare at Kol with anger and surprise, all blurred under his permanent layer of calm. "Kol, I will tell you right now that if you plan on harming the Gilbert boy than you will have to find help else where. I want nothing to do with this."

"I agree with Elijah," Rebekah nodded. "Jeremy is Elena's only family, not to mention he is completely innocent. He should be left out of this."

"Unfortunately, though, the poor bloke got caught up in my search for the stake. I asked him for a favor and he couldn't comply. In fact, he sent me to my death. If it weren't for Klaus interfering than I wouldn't be here right now." Kol edged closer to his brother and sister. "Don't tell me you are protecting an ignorant teenage boy over your own brother."

They exchanged a glance. Elijah sighed.

"I apologize, Kol," he murmured. "But the boy lives."

* * *

Jeremy paced the small jail cell. Ever since Sheriff Forbes' visit, he found he couldn't sit down or stay still anymore.

He was seriously going mad being locked up in here instead of out there where he could help and protect the others. Not to mention he was completely out of the loop. There might not even be anyone left to help for all he knew. Maybe the council succeeded in daggering Kol, somehow managing to steal the stake from Memphis, and he turned out to be the sire of Mary's bloodline. It was a possibility, but how would he know?

The situation was all so complicated. So as of now, the stake was in good hands, but it wasn't a stake anymore. It was a powerful dagger that could put down Klaus. But Lucy's plans of re-siring the hybrids failed because they were all dead now, or so Sheriff Forbes told him. And Kol was out there still, rehearsing his death over and over again in his head. It was all so overwhelming

When would they finally be able to use the stake-dagger thing on Klaus and be over with this? Surely it would be soon enough, right?

"Jeremy?" a familiar voice wondered, calmly, from behind him.

His chest just imploded from the unexpected fear. Last time he checked, he was in the cell alone. He whirled around to see Alaric sitting on the bench, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees.

"Alaric." This was surprising because he hadn't actually realized that he was thinking about Alaric and how much he wished he were still alive, which was what had to be done to summon a ghost. But apparently, he was and now Alaric was here and he couldn't be happier.

"Well," he casually said, leaning back to press his head to the wall. "You seem to be in a bind."

* * *

Elena shut her eyes tightly until little colorful blotches floated across her eyelids. But all she saw was darkness. It wasn't working. Nothing that they had already tried had worked. And if they stayed on this course, nothing they were going to try would work.

She opened her eyes and sighed. "I've been locking my knees for over half an hour now. Obviously, we have proven that getting me to faint is not what triggers the dreams."

Stefan was standing by the fireplace of the living room, with his arms folded across his chest and an empty glass of bourbon in his hand. "Okay, I admit that I might have been wrong. But if this doesn't trigger them, then what does?"

She looked to Damon, who was leaning over the back of an armchair. "Any ideas? I'm open to anything."

"Who knows," he muttered. "We were outside the last time. Maybe the sound of birds chirping turns you on."

Stefan laughed darkly. "Yes, but we're being serious today, remember, Damon?"

"No, he might be on to something," Elena murmured. "When the dream first started we were taking a walk by the creek. I thought I was just dizzy, and then I passed out and found myself in Mystic Falls with Klaus. So the trigger had to be outside with us."

What could it be? Elena tried to imagine everything around her at the time that she fainted. There was the soft rush of water, bright sunlight in contrast to the icy wind, and Damon's hand in hers, his fingers rubbing circles into her palm…

Could it be?

"Hold on. Damon was with me when it happened. What if it's him? What if he is what triggers the dreams?"

"Only one way to find out."

Stefan's face was unhappy as Elena closed the distance between her and Damon. She kneeled on the chair he was leaning on so that they were face to face and twisted her fingers through his.

The final step was to concentrate.

To Elena's surprise, the room around her spun around her head, faster and faster, until it was nothing but white. Then the dim room with luxurious and covered furniture replaced the white. Elena hid in the same corner where she felt safest, but this time Klaus was lounging on a red couch with his feet up on a low coffee table. As Elena watched, he pulled out his phone.

"Kol," he instantly said. "How is plan B coming along?"

A voice babbled on the other side, but it was to unintelligible for her to understand.

"What do you mean by complications? _They_ cannot be construed as complications. Just put them in a box until you are finished. It always worked for me."

Another reply.

Klaus sighed. "Whatever excuses you have, I don't want to hear them. You are supposed to be burying the boy right now, but instead you are telling me that our siblings are the reason that you failed. So, don't let me down, brother. I expect to see a funeral announcement by tomorrow."

As he hung up, Elena's vision blurred like someone had blindfolded her with wax paper. The floor dropped out from underneath her in the same jarring journey that took her from Mystic Falls back to Memphis. But it was over soon, and she gasped as she dropped back into reality.

Damon's voice was the first thing she heard, slowing getting louder like the volume on a radio.

"You see anything good?" he wondered, expectantly.

But Elena wasn't as thrilled as she should have been. What she had overheard from Klaus was not good news. What was plan B? Obviously, it included Kol killing someone, and she had an idea of who that would be.

But he did say that Kol hadn't killed him _yet_. Elijah and Rebekah had gotten in the way. The confusing part was why they would get in the way in the first place. Wouldn't they jump at the opportunity to kill Jeremy? She didn't know, but it was a ray of hope that she clung onto desperately.

* * *

Lucy combed her long brown hair in the mirror above her dresser. She jumped when she saw that someone had appeared beside her in the reflection.

Caroline's face wasn't angry, just unhappy.

She sighed. "I've been thinking a lot and…it was wrong of me to believe that we could keep this a secret any longer, and don't even get me started on how wrong it was on your part. But you have to agree with me when I say that it's time. It's time to tell them."

Lucy's eyes dropped. She began picking at the bristles on her brush. "You're right. You've been right since you first found out. I just chose to ignore it." Finally, she turned around to meet Caroline's gaze. "I have to tell them, now."

* * *

"So help me out here," Alaric said, chuckling. "Do we want Klaus dead or not?"

Jeremy shrugged. He was sitting beside Alaric on the bench, telling him all about what had happened since his death. "We've always wanted him dead, but now there's a way to kill him and only him. No bloodlines attached."

"Wow. So you really think we can trust these witches? No one's ever who they say they are."

"I wondered that at first," he admitted. "But then I thought about it and decided they were. I mean what witch would go to the trouble to pretend to be someone they are not to protect Klaus? It's just not in their nature."

"How'd you end up in the big house?"

Jeremy gritted his teeth. "Two words: founder's council. Ever since Kol got here and killed that girl, they've been cracking down on the rules. They arrested me for being involved with the rest, but since they're not here I get the blame. The worst part is that I'm stuck in this cell while Kol is out there waiting for me to give him another hint as to where the stake is. So, there's probably a line of dead bodies waiting for me when I get out."

"And you can't tell him where the stake is because…"

"Because the witches screwed with it so now it's a dagger that we're going to use on Klaus. That way he can spend the rest of eternity in a coffin at the bottom of the ocean."

Alaric looked away, evaluating this information. Finally, he sighed. "And the hybrids you almost got unsired are all dead, huh?" he murmured to the floor.

"Yeah…"

All of a sudden, Alaric turned around to make eye contact with Jeremy, his face glowing. "What if I told you there was a way that you could get another army on your side?"

* * *

Kol released Officer Johnson's collar, and he fell to the floor. With a smirk, Kol stepped over his body and entered the room where Jeremy was being kept.

At first, he was confused when he saw that Jeremy was talking to the wall. But then he remembered that Jeremy saw ghosts, the whole purpose of Damon and Elena's Denver trip. As to whom he was conversing with now, Kol didn't know or care.

Jeremy jumped in surprise when he heard the metal bars of the jail cell bending ferociously under Kol's hand. When he saw whom it was, his heart leapt into overdrive.

"Kol."

He didn't answer. He just continued to pull the bars outward until they snapped in two. He then began to wrap the jagged ends in on themselves, widening the hole enough so that Jeremy could slip through. Although the sound was unpleasant, Kol managed to Jeremy out in a matter of seconds.

As soon as he was out of the cell and brushing himself off, Kol turned to him.

"Come with me, Gilbert."

* * *

"You think he's really mad at us?" Elena murmured under her breath to Damon as they watched Stefan pour himself another glass of bourbon.

"I don't know. Maybe. But don't judge it by his expression. He always looks like that whether he's watching us hold hands or ordering a pizza."

Stefan never looked up. "You know, I can hear you."

Damon turned to Elena and frowned. "Uh-oh. We've been caught."

Elena couldn't help but giggle, and something inside of Stefan reacted to the sound of it and he spun around on his heel.

"What are you trying to do to me, huh?" he shouted to Damon, belligerently. His arms jerked up and down at his sides. "Are you trying to hurt me? Are you trying to rub it in my face that you got the girl, because you don't have to. I know it already. You think I don't spend every second of every day thinking about her and wondering why the hell I wasn't good enough for her?"

Elena was frozen at Stefan's sudden accusations. Her worry increased when Damon let go of her hand and blew up in Stefan's face.

"It's funny, but you sound like she hasn't spent the last three years thinking you _were_ good enough for her and putting me in the damn friend zone. So excuse me for trying to even the score a little, Stef."

The evil way that they were staring at each other mad Elena shiver. She couldn't let this go on any longer. It was horrible to see them fight like this. After all, they were brothers and that was more important than anything.

"Hey!" she yelled, loud enough to catch both of their attentions. As soon as it was quiet, she lowered her voice to a quiet but serious volume. "Look, I know everything is changing, okay? Matt's car went off the bridge and everything changed. Damon and I are in love, now, Stefan," she explained. "I can't spend the rest of my life hearing you say his name and pretending not to react to it, pretending not to love him. Nobody wants to live that way. And maybe you're feeling lost because killing Klaus has given you a big purpose in your life and he's going to be gone soon so you won't know what to do. But we have to accept that things are different now or we are never going to survive in this world. You got it?"

Fortunately, they both calmed down, their heaving chests slowed down more and more. The redness drained from their faces.

"Alright," she sighed. "Now we can move on."

* * *

They arrived at the Forbes' house later that night, just as the sun was setting behind the trees. Jeremy felt chained to Kol as the hopped onto the porch and Kol pounded on the front door.

"What are we doing here?" he demanded.

Kol snorted. "You'll see, little Gilbert."

Through the glass panes, they could see Sheriff Forbes bound down the stairs and come towards the door. They locked eyes and Jeremy could see the fear that accompanied Kol's presence, and the worry that accompanied his.

She unlocked the dead bolt and creaked open the door.

"What do you want, Kol?" she asked, as menacingly as she could manage. "Are you going to blame me for what the council's done?"

"Well, I wish I could. Unfortunately, I haven't been invited in yet. Which is why I brought with me our good friend, Jeremy. So, here's the ultimatum, Liz. Invite me in, or watch Jeremy die."

Her muscles tightened. She and Jeremy exchanged a frantic look.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Because the people in this town deserve a rude awakening: when I don't get what I want, you suffer."

Sheriff Forbes blinked back tears as thousands of options were laid out before her. She could shut the door and walk away, but then her best friend from high school's son would die. Or she could invite Kol in and discover what he meant by _you suffer._

With a heavy sigh, she whispered, "Come in."

Instantly, Kol flew forward, darting through the open door, but then something jumped out from the bush and collided with him. Klaus' body was like a blur in the night, as it tumbled with Kol's on the floor of Liz's entryway.

Jeremy and Sheriff Forbes watched with horror.

* * *

"Oh my god," Elena shouted. "Klaus, he's with Kol and Jeremy and…Sheriff Forbes?"

She was watching it all happen as she sat next to Damon on the couch. Her eyes looked off into the distance, not seeing the back wall of the room but the standoff that was going on between Klaus and Kol right in Caroline's house.

"What's happening?" Stefan demanded.

"Umm," she focused on the scene harder, and then a thought came to her like a punch in the stomach. "When Klaus was talking to Kol on the phone, he was telling him to kill Jeremy."

* * *

Sheriff Forbes grabbed Jeremy's arm and pulled him away from Klaus and Kol, who were baring their teeth at each other menacingly. She ran with him behind her in the direction of the back door, but suddenly, Kol was there to block them.

"You're not going anywhere," he snarled.

"Walk away, Kol," Klaus warned. "This is not our fight."

Kol's back muscles stiffened. He pointed a finger at his brother. "That's where you are wrong. This became our fight when the council decided that they knew what was best for this town better than we did." His finger redirected to Liz. "They made the first move. Now it's my turn. If they are true in their claim that all they care about is protecting the citizens of Mystic Falls, then they are going to _love_ this."

He took a step forward.

* * *

Damon and Stefan were leaning forward on the balls of their feet towards Elena with her blank, blind expression.

"Now what's going on?" Stefan whispered, frantically.

"Talk to us, Elena."

She shook her head, mechanically. "I don't understand. Klaus was telling Kol to kill Jeremy, so why is he trying to stop him now. It doesn't make sense."

Then the pieces of the puzzle clicked together one by one like a horror story unraveling before her very eyes. There was no more confusion. Elena knew exactly what was going on. She felt her legs begin to shake uncontrollably. Suddenly, the room was thirty degrees colder. Her jaw ached from her chattering teeth.

"Oh no," she mouthed. "Oh no, oh no, oh no."

* * *

Jeremy cringed away from Kol, preparing his body for the pain that was sure to follow.

Nothing happened.

When he opened his eyes, he saw that Kol hadn't moved at all. He wasn't even looking at Jeremy anymore. His eyes still sparkled with the thrill of violence, but they were pointed at someone else.

Klaus sucked in a sharp breath.

The rest happened in a blur of painstakingly heart-stopping movements. Kol jumped forward in the time it took for Jeremy to blink and reappeared in front of Liz, their noses almost touching. Sheriff Forbes' face drained of all its color.

The final motion was Kol reaching out to rip her heart from her chest.

* * *

"Caroline?" Elena called, almost hyperventilating as she ran down the stairs in search of her friend. "Caroline!"

At last, she found Caroline standing in the front room with her back turned. But Elena could see her shoulders shaking, up and down. When she whirled around to face her, she noticed the shiny tear streaks that striped vertically across her face. She was crying. She knew.

"Caroline…"

"J-Jeremy told me," she blurted out between sobs. She sniffed. "I-I can't believe—"

Elena lurched forward to wrap her arms around Caroline's tiny shoulders. "I know, I know. Shh. You don't have to say anything. Just cry. Cry until you've drained out all the water in your body, and then cry some more."

They stood there, Caroline moaning inside Elena's embrace, for more than half an hour. Elena could hardly bear to consider being impatient, not with the terrible thing that Caroline was going through. She would stand here all night with her if that were what it would take to make her feel better.

It wasn't until now that Elena understood what people meant when they said that bad things really do come out of nowhere. It was true beyond imagination. No one ever expects to be prepared for tragedies like these, but no one expects them to happen when they are so completely off guard. At any moment, at any time of day, you could get news that changes your life. And who can be prepared for something like that?

Later on, someone came down the stairs. It was Lucy, and she watched Caroline weep with sorrowful eyes. But she was here for a different purpose.

"Elena?" she wondered, quietly. "Could I talk to you for a second."

Something about her voice seemed off to Elena. Shaky, like she had rehearsed it a dozen times in her head before actually saying it out loud. So she loosened her grip on Caroline and guided her toward the couch. She lied down, willingly, wrapped like a cocoon inside the afghan.

Elena followed Lucy upstairs. They stopped at a door that Elena hadn't been in before. Inside, it looked like an office with a modern desk and rolling chair. To contradict this, a stack of ancient books stood in the corner by a tall fichus plant.

Two chairs sat across from Lucy's desk. Jeremy was sitting in one of them.

"Jeremy," she breathed. "When did you get here?"

"I'm sorry," Lucy interrupted. "But what I have to say is very important. We don't have time to catch up right now. I'm very sorry."

She sat down in her chair with wheels, and, as Elena took a seat beside Jeremy, she noticed that Lucy's hands were nervously tapping against the surface of the desk.

"Okay, now I'm worried," Elena admitted. "What's going on?"

Lucy bit her top lip, awkwardly, and then she picked up a small leather journal from the corner of the desk so that she could absent-mindedly finger through the pages. Every second that went by that she didn't speak Elena went a bit crazier inside. Her and Jeremy exchanged a frantic glance. He had already seen so much this week. Why add to the horrors?

"Well, this is really hard for me to say," she began, sullenly. "And I'm sure it's even harder for you to hear. When Caroline first told me that she knew the secret, I got so scared. But then she made me realize that I was being cruel, keeping this from you. It's not my secret to keep in the first place…"

"Lucy!"

The diary fell from her hands onto the desk. She looked Elena in the eye.

"Elena," she began. "Your parents are very much alive."

**AN: The secret has been revealed! Was it what you guys expected? I hope it was even better!**

**And if any of you are confused about the plot so far (which I realized was pretty confusing while writing this chapter) then please feel free to private message me or put in the reviews if you have any questions. I will be more than happy to answer!**

**So we're getting closer to the end now! My big epic climax chapter is coming up and will actually be mentioned next chapter! So tighten your belts, people, because that climax chapter will be a doozy! As will the ending!**

**Oh yeah, and I don't know if any of you have heard, but they released the 5x01 synopsis today! SO exciting!**

**But here is **_**my**_** synopsis for chapter seventeen:**

_**AT THE SEAMS- Everyone is shocked to find out the secret that Lucy has been hiding, and even more surprised to see that Elena is not accepting the news as well as they would hope. Caroline is left to deal with her mother's passing. Jeremy shares Alaric's plan with the rest of the group, and Klaus makes plans of his own in Mystic Falls.**_


	17. Chapter 17

She found herself unable to form coherent sentences.

"You…they…so…_what_?"

Her mouth went numb, so that her words began to slur together under the blind movement of her lips. She began to regret not sitting down before hearing what Lucy had to say, because her vision began to blur just at the edges. Goose bumps rose on her arms; however, the skin underneath her clothes tingled in emanating heat. Her heart rate would pick up rapidly, and then slow down to a terrifying pace.

All that time she had spent mourning the death of her parents was all in vane. The pain she had suffered through…. It was burned into her memory though it had been for no reason at all. It could have been prevented if she had just known the truth.

But the real question was why.

"Wait, I don't understand," Jeremy interrupted, quietly, but there was an underlying anger to his voice that was just waiting to burst through. "Why did they pretend to die? And why do you know about this when we don't."

Lucy sighed. "The first mission I had when I joined this community was to help Miranda and Grayson fake their death. They have always been such close friends with the Bennetts, and when we realized that they had taken in the doppelganger as their daughter, we had to take action. Their relation to you, Elena, was extremely dangerous. It was inevitable that Klaus would find you, and just like your Aunt Jenna, they would suffer. The only way to convince them to leave was to tell them that it was actually they endangering you. Then they went willingly, leaving the impression that they were dead."

Elena felt like every word was a slap in the face, and the sensation didn't go away. "How did you do that?"

"Well," Lucy hesitated, her face was flushed like she was embarrassed or feeling guilty. "With _your_ parents, we had to force the accident. The original plan was for them to be with Ash's mother at the lake house. I'm sure you heard about how she drowned that same night. That was also a lie. We couldn't risk putting her life in danger, either, so we had to displace her as well. But we took all the precautions. Ash moved in with us after the 'accident', and, during your crash, we were ready to pull you out of the car, only Stefan beat us to it. And I promise that he didn't know about us, then or now. That was just pure coincidence.

"But to legitimize our…. subterfuge, we used magic on your mom and dad to make them appear to be dead for a temporary amount of time. Then, just before the night of the funeral, we snuck them out of the morgue and brought them to a small town in Kentucky. They've been living there ever since."

"So, this was all just to protect them," she repeated, more to herself than anyone else. "From me."

Knowing this didn't make the news any easier at all, when it was clear that Lucy thought it would. How would it have made things better now that she knew that all of it had been because of her? Ash, her gentle friend from junior high, lost his only parent. Jeremy had suffered as well. His whole life took a turn for the worst after the car crash. He started to alienate his friends and do drugs. It was so hard for him to bounce back after that.

And if their parents had never adopted her, then it wouldn't have happened. She alone ruined the lives of the family that she loved. All of a sudden, she hated herself. She wanted to jump off a cliff to put everyone else out of their misery. Her friends, Damon, Jeremy…their lives were suffering because she was in them.

The walls of the room were closing in on her. She felt like she was going to suffocate if she stood there any longer. Without another word, she turned on her heel and took off. She didn't stop once she made it down the stairs. Her body moving like a blur, she ran out of the house and into the woods.

* * *

"They what?" Damon yelled into his phone, as he stuffed three or four grocery bags into the trunk of his car. He was about ten miles away from the witches' house at the nearest market, restocking their food supply.

"They are still alive," Stefan repeated. "Lucy told Jeremy everything. Apparently, her and the rest of them were afraid that if Klaus ever found Elena than they wouldn't be safe. And they were right, I mean look at what happened with Jenna."

"So they put her parents into the Witness Protection Program?" he demanded.

He sighed. "Maybe it was the right call."

Damon shut the trunk and walked around the car to slip into the driver's seat. He turned the key and his engine thrummed to life. "Well if there's anything I've learned, it's that there is no right or wrong call. Just keep an eye on Elena till I get there. Make sure she doesn't do anything she'll regret."

"Actually, Damon, there's one other thing."

"What?"

There was a pause. "Elena's gone. We have no idea where she went."

"What do you mean _gone_? How can she be gone?" he demanded.

"She heard the news and then disappeared. She's not in the house," he explained. "She's not anywhere."

Damon groaned and looked around the parking lot. "Alright, I'll look for her when I get back. Just stay in the house and call me if she shows up."

* * *

Caroline hesitated before ducking under the yellow tape that barred her front door and stepped inside her house.

The flashing red and blue lights of the cop car and ambulance reflected off of the walls and the pieces of furniture that had been there since she was a child. The people inside were standing around in their official uniforms, sipping coffee and telling jokes to each other as Caroline walked by.

She tried to ignore the fact that this was routine to them and that's why they were laughing as the paramedics pushed past her wheeling a gurney. They were going in the direction of the kitchen. She followed them, and then regretted it.

Dr. Fell was bending over her mother's body, which was lying on the floor of the kitchen. The first thing she noticed was the massive amount of blood soaked to her shirt, and then she realized that that was where Kol's hand had been.

Another doctor standing by the sink was sliding something dark and lumpy into a plastic bag and then into a cooler. Caroline finally put it together and decided that the object was her mother's heart.

As they her mother onto the gurney, what was left on the floor was a white tape outline of her form. Caroline had only ever seen these in the movies.

And then, finally, the paramedics zipped her mother into a black leather bag. As the zipper closed over the top of her head, it all became too much for Caroline. She lurched forward and grabbed the nearest paramedic by his arm, shoving him backward.

"Stop that! She can't breathe in there," she cried. "She's my mom."

The paramedics' faces were annoyed. But Dr. Fell looked at Caroline sympathetically. "Caroline, let them take the body to the hospital for autopsy. Then you can see the body for yourself—"

"No, don't call her that. Just stop calling her _the body_. She's mom!"

Soft footsteps approached her from behind, and two hands held onto her shoulders. "Now, love, let's calm down."

It was Klaus' voice, only she didn't recognize it because it wasn't sarcastic or manipulating. In fact, the sound of soothed her somewhat. But it couldn't prevent the tears that were forming in her eyes.

Instinctively, she whirled around and buried her face in his chest. It was an impulse decision, but his body was warm and she didn't exactly regret it.

And this way she didn't have to watch as they carted her mother's body out of the house.

* * *

Damon walked straight into the house and tossed his keys to Ash, who was standing nearby.

"You, go get those groceries and bring them inside."

As Ash hurried out of the house with wide eyes, Damon smirked to himself. Who says he couldn't have a home Matt and an away Matt to boss around?

Then Stefan, Bonnie, and Lucy came rushing down the stairs with worried expressions. He waited to see Elena's face among them, but she wasn't there. Stefan was right. She was gone.

Damon was immediately angry. He threw up his arms. "Where the hell is Elena, and why can't anybody find her?"

Lucy shrugged. "She practically flew out of the room and then I never saw her again."

"We were hoping you could find her," Stefan admitted, sullenly. "If she's going to listen to anyone, then it'll be you."

He pursed his lips. "Well, she's one small person, so she could be anywhere. I'm going to need someone to come with me."

Lucy nodded. "I'll go."

"No, definitely not you. You're the one who did this, and the last person on this planet that she is going to want to see." He nodded at Bonnie. "Judgy, you're with me. Where's Jeremy?"

Stefan understood what he meant. "We'll stay with him."

Damon looked at Bonnie. "Come on. Get your coat."

They passed Ash, with his arms full of grocery bags, as they headed out into the woods.

* * *

An hour later, they were still searching.

"Elena!" Bonnie called.

Damon ducked down and checked underneath a blackberry bush. When he stood up, he sighed.

Then, together, they moved forward a few feet and repeated their actions.

It was getting dark soon, and the air was getting chillier with every second. Having been outside for so long, Bonnie could feel the cold starting to get to her. She had long since stopped having any feeling in her fingertips, and as the sun began to disappear, her breath came out in little puffs.

Damon noticed her pulling down her sleeves to cover her hands, and rolled his eyes, but removed his own jacket wrapped it around her shoulders. "Here," he barked, and then continued to search every area around them that looked like Elena could be hiding in.

"Thank you," she mumbled. "But aren't you going to need this?"

"I'm a vampire," he explained without looking at her. "We don't get cold."

Neither of them said anything for a while after that. They covered about twenty yards of land when Bonnie finally asked the question that had been on her mind for days.

"So, are you and Elena…together now?" she wondered. It was a new thing for them to talk about personal issues. She had always seen him as the one person she could rely on to discuss serious things with.

"What did it for you? When I changed my relationship status online?" he retorted then glanced back at her oddly. "You should know. I thought you and Elena tell each other everything."

She shrugged. "Not when she's busy getting bit by wolves or finding out her dead parents are actually alive."

He nodded in agreement, raising his eyebrows once and then letting them fall. Then, all of a sudden, he stopped walking and held up one finger for Bonnie to be quiet.

"You hear that?" he whispered.

Bonnie tried, but failed to hear any noise other than the rush of the creek that was just past the trees on their left as the water fell downhill. But obviously, Damon's enhanced ears could detect something else. "What is it?"

"I think it's Elena," he told her.

She followed him past a few more trees until they could actually see the creek in front of them. Bonnie squinted in the dark to find that Damon had been right. Elena was stumbling around the edge of the water, holding up a beer bottle and giggling.

Damon noticed the bottle, and the pile of others at the base of a nearby tree, and stepped closer so that he was between Bonnie and Elena.

"Elena," he murmured to her. "We're going to go home now."

Elena whirled around when she heard his voice, and the motion caused her to trip backwards. She caught herself and laughed loudly.

"Hey!" she exclaimed, ignoring his statement. "Damon, you can join the party. But I don't think there are any drinks left…"

He cleared his throat and glanced over his shoulder at Bonnie. "That's okay, because we're going to get you home where you can sleep this all off."

"Have you ever thought," she shouted, turning her head up towards the moon, "about how you never realize that it's the people in your life who screw you over? _People _have such an effect on each other's lives. Why do we hurt each other?"

Damon waited for her to go on.

"But it's not like we really have a choice! I mean it's always something that you can't control that forces that person to hurt the people she loves. Whether it's a lie, or death, or my_ stupid last name_—" Elena stopped to throw her bottle at a tree. It collided with the trunk and smashed into a million pieces.

He took a step closer. "Elena…"

"No!" she cried, dodging his advances. "You don't get it. I'm the reason why all this has happened! Me! Not Klaus, not Katherine, me. I'm the lightening that struck Jeremy's family and ruined them. Jeremy lost his parents because of me, and now everything that we went through to get over their deaths'…we're going to have to do it all over again because they are still alive and they have moved on. What if they had more kids and forgot about us? What if they have a minivan and a house in the suburbs even th-though they hate the suburbs? And I'm going to be graduating high school, while it's bowling night in Kentucky!"

As her outburst ended, Bonnie looked down at the ground. She hated to see Elena so upset that she had lost all control. And she was sure Elena would later regret ever letting Bonnie see it, as well.

This time when Damon went to her side, she didn't move away. He let her rest her head on his shoulder as he bent down to sweep her up into his arms. Bonnie was at his heel as he carried Elena back to the house.

* * *

Caroline's eyes fluttered open.

She was lying in her bed—well, her bed in Lucy's house—with the blankets pulled up to her shoulders. The sunlight was streaming in through the window from the east, so she decided that it must be early morning. Then she began to wonder how she got back here.

The last thing she remembered was being in Mystic Falls, watching the paramedics load her mother's body onto a gurney while screaming uncontrollably. But Klaus was there, and he calmed her down. After that, it was a total blur.

He must have brought her all the way back here without any of the others noticing. But that didn't make sense. Why would he completely ignore the fact that he knew where the enemy was hiding just so he could make sure that Caroline got back safely?

The sound of voices carried up to her ears, and she climbed out of bed, slipped on a thin robe over her pajamas, and then went downstairs.

There was a gathering around the living room. Stefan stood, almost disturbingly, far back by the exit, where he was leaning against the doorframe. Lucy and Joanna were sitting with their legs crossed on the couch adjacent to the fireplace, and Ash stood behind them. His hand was on Joanna's shoulder, and her hand was on top of his. Elena was sitting on the opposite couch, her face a sickly white and purple bags under her eyes, leaning into Damon beside her. He had both arms wrapped around her stomach. She had never looked worse.

Lastly, Jeremy was standing at the head of the room; all eyes were on him, with Bonnie perched on the arm of the recliner nearest him. His expression was exited.

Caroline stood by the lamp in the back corner and listened in to the conversation.

"…He told me all about it," Jeremy continued. "He said there was a way we could build our own army against Klaus. An army of ghosts."

"Bring back the dead?" Damon question, his eyebrows raised. "I don't know who put you in charge, Jeremy, but if I remember correctly, that didn't go over too well the last time."

Jeremy smiled, as if he were waiting to answer this. "That's just it. Alaric specifically said that we don't have to bring back everybody, just the ones we want to. They'll be able to touch and feel, but won't be seen by anybody other than who they want to be seen by."

"And I'm guessing this Alaric person expects us to come up with this non-existent spell?" Lucy wondered, gesturing to her and Joanna.

"Take a look at this," Jeremy ordered as Bonnie opened up a thick dusty grimoire and laid it out in front of them. "Have you ever heard a spell like this before? It's called Morte Tonica."

Joanna and Lucy stared at the page with faces of disbelief. "This is very old magic," Joanna breathed. "Extremely old."

"But it might work," Lucy finished.

"What's Morte Tonica?" Elena asked, in a thick voice.

Lucy slowly took her eyes off of the grimoire page, and looked up at Elena. "It's a potion, which is why it is so old. Witches haven't used potions since way before the twelfth century. But, anyway, if you were to drink it, then you could temporarily bring back a lost loved one, human and vampire alike."

"Which is why it will work perfectly in building us the army we need," Bonnie added, excitedly.

"But wait," Elena interjected. "We've all lost someone we loved to this supernatural stuff. So now we're going to bring them back just so they can get involved again?"

Jeremy looked at Elena, softly. "No, so they can help us end it. Then they can go back to the Other Side or heaven or whatever and rest peacefully knowing we'll be able to live our lives normally now."

It was silent for a long time after that as people exchanged glances with one another, nodding and whispering. Caroline couldn't tell whether the majority were against the idea, or for it. But nevertheless, she suddenly stepped forward.

"I'm in," she declared.

Her vote made everyone suddenly stop and stare at her. Then, thankfully, Elena gave a smile in her direction.

"I'm in too."

"Me too," Damon immediately agreed.

"I'm in," Stefan nodded.

Ash, Lucy, and Joanna all squeezed each other's hands as if they were all one person. "Count us in," Lucy said to Jeremy, with a happy voice.

Bonnie stood up and placed her arm around Jeremy's waist. They shared an excited glance, glad to know that the idea might actually work and that everyone was on board with it. Then, Jeremy turned back to the group.

"The only thing you should know, though, is that there's only one night that this is going to work for: this Saturday. Then, when the sun rises the next morning, the ghosts will leave again."

Stefan's eyebrows pulled together. "In Mystic Falls?" he asked. "That's the night of the Founder's Ball."

Damon nodded. "And the night we're going to dagger Klaus' sorry ass."

* * *

Klaus watched as the blonde woman opened the backseat of her car and stuffed her purse in. As she shut the door and walked over to the driver's side, he stepped out of the shadows.

"Excuse me, ma'am?" he wondered, politely. "I'm new to Mystic Falls and can't seem to find my way to the nearest hotel. Would you mind giving me a ride?"

She turned around, and smiled. "Of course. Hop in."

He went over to climb into the passenger's side, just as she entered the car herself. Klaus chuckled to himself after the woman had already started the car. Humans were so stupid and gullible. It was almost too easy to trick them.

"So," she asked. "Which hotel?"

He glanced out the window. "You know, you would think such fragile creatures as yourselves would be a little more cautious as to who you invite into your car."

The woman froze; her heartbeat jumped and then thudded furiously against her rib cage. She slammed her fingers against the unlock button on the dashboard, but Klaus was quicker. He grabbed a fistful of her hair and brought her head down onto his lap.

Then, he sank his teeth into his wrist, fed her the blood, and snapped her neck.

The silence that followed was more peaceful than the sound of her screams, and Klaus was thankful. One down, many more to go. Soon enough, he would have his army back. Granted, they wouldn't be hybrids, but they would do just fine in their purpose. However, he needed to work faster. He only had till Saturday to finish making his soldiers.

**AN: Chapter seventeen-check! Wow, only five more chapters left of the story! I don't know about you guys, but I don't want it to end. But at the same time, I'm excited to write the ending. Sigh.**

** The chapters are going to start being posted a little quicker now, considering I only have about three weeks to make it to my deadline. (I want to have the story completed before season five premieres.)**

** Well, I guess that's all I have for this AN. Here's the chapter eighteen synopsis:**

_**DEAD ON THEIR FEET- Bonnie and the rest of the witches work to create the potion and bring back the ghosts as they say goodbye to Memphis and leave for Mystic Falls. Elena jumps at the opportunity to visit her parents in Kentucky, but Damon soon finds out that she has other deadly intentions.**_


	18. Chapter 18

Elena smiled against Damon's lips as he ran his fingers through her hair. She rubbed her foot up and down along his leg from under the sheets of the bed. With one last kiss, she giggled and fell onto her back beside him. The mattress was cool against her bare skin.

They both stared up at the ceiling for a moment. Then Damon rolled onto his side.

"This is new," he murmured. "You've never used sex as a way to run from your problems before."

She rolled her eyes. "I'm not using sex as a distraction."

"Please. I wrote the book on that. And I know for a fact that that's what you are doing."

"Okay, fine," she sighed, propping her head up onto her hand. "I am using sex as a distraction. But that's just because you're so good at it."

He grinned at her. "You know you can't hide out in this bed forever, right?"

"Why? You want me to leave?"

"No," he admitted. "But Jeremy's out there, feeling all the same crap as you and waiting for his big sister to make him feel better. He needs you right now, Elena."

She sighed again. Damon was right. She was being selfish in thinking that she was the only one suffering from the news about her parents. They were Jeremy's parents too, and he was all alone in his pain. Granted, he had Bonnie, but he was probably craving to be with someone who understood exactly what he was going through.

"I don't know what to do, though," she explained. "I mean we stuck together through their deaths, but this is entirely different. How do you cope with something like this?"

He reached over and stroked her arm. "You'll figure it out. I know it." Then, he looked around the room and back at her again. "Now what do you say we get out of this bed and face the world?"

Although her limbs were sore from sleep, Elena climbed out of bed and threw on the shirt that was strewn over the back of the vanity chair. She watched Damon sit up in bed and realized that she wanted to tell him something.

"Lucy offered tell me where my parents' new address was so I could see them. She assured me that it was safe now, and I told her I had to think about it, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to say yes."

"Well that's great news, right?" he guessed. "Get some closure. It's good for the heart and soul."

"I can't do it without you, of course. You'll come with me, won't you?" She flopped back down on the edge of the bed. "I have to have someone with me, and I don't want to take Jeremy. It'll be hard enough to deal with my own emotions, let alone both of ours."

Damon stood up, but bent down to lightly kiss her quickly on the lips. "Of course I'll come." Then he disappeared into the closet.

As she listened to the sound of clothes ruffling against each other, she thought about what Lucy said, how it will be safe to see her parents. But of course it won't be safe, not with Klaus and Kol running around trying to kill them. But her entire reason of going was dependent on it not being safe, so maybe Lucy _was_ right. There really was no need to worry at all.

* * *

"I've never done a potion before," Bonnie said as she poured a small silver vial into the large pot. "So this is a great time for me to learn."

"We're all learners here, Bonnie," Joanna smiled.

Lucy began chopping up a handful of herbs she had picked from the garden in the backyard. "Yeah, none of us have ever done this kind of thing before. But we should have. I feel like I need to be wearing one of those ridiculous pointed hats and a fake mole on my nose."

Bonnie laughed. "Do you really think this is going to work?"

"I sure hope so," Lucy replied. "But what have we got to lose if it doesn't?"

The yellowish liquid began to bubble from within the pot, and because it wasn't even sitting on the stove, Bonnie knew that it must be ready. So she took a large spoon and dipped it in, holding it up so that the potion would slowly drip back into the pot.

As she stared at the disgusting tonic, she realized how much magic was being contained in every syrupy drop. One sip of this and you could bring back the dead. It was obvious that Lucy had been wrong.

They had everything to lose.

* * *

"These maps are so confusing," Elena said as she tore a bit of the edge of a large state map trying to open it wide. "Lucy said they were in Danville, but I can't even find the county on this thing."

"Don't bother," Damon told her, one hand up on the steering wheel. "We're almost there."

They had been driving down an endless stretch of deserted highways for hours. It was more and more nerve-racking with every inch they got closer to her parents, but she also wanted to get the whole thing over with. Hearing that that the ride was almost over was music to her ears.

"Speaking of Lucy," Damon continued. "Did she happen to slip an address anywhere into the conversation?"

"She said we didn't need one, but she did give us a address to a restaurant. On this day every week, they go to a diner for dinner on the south side of town." But she didn't need to explain further, because Damon was slowly pulling the car into a parking space outside the diner that looked exactly like Lucy had described.

Elena unbuckled her seat belt and hopped out of the car. Damon was behind her as she made the final few steps onto the raised sidewalk that bordered the building and peeked in though front glass wall.

Inside was classic diner décor. The floor was black and white tile, and the two rows of booths were upholstered in red leather. It wasn't very busy, aside from a few people here and there. But what caught her eye and made her stomach twist inside of her were the two people sitting at one of the booths that was up against the right wall.

It was her mom and dad, sitting quietly, looking through the one-paged laminated menu with content written all over their faces. Neither of them said anything until the waitress came by and took their drink orders. As she watched, her mom casually murmured something to him, and he nodded.

Elena could see that they didn't have to talk while in each other's company. This was something she had never noticed before when she still knew they were alive. It made her heart ache to watch them, occasionally smiling at the other's joke. Did they miss her? Did they ever even think about her?

"Um," she stuttered. "Let's just wait out here for a second."

"Elena…"

"Don't say anything, Damon," she warned, quietly. "I just want this to go perfectly, and to do that I need to be ready before I can talk to them."

He opened his mouth to protest, but then Elena's phone buzzed once in her pocket. It made her jump, and the look on her face as she pulled out the phone was a mixture of guilt and terror, like she had just been caught committing a crime.

Her face made Damon pull his eyebrows together. "Who's that?"

"Nobody," she immediately answered. "Probably just Bonnie checking up on me."

He obviously knew that something was going on. She was a terrible liar, and he could always see through her. He narrowed his eyes. "You have three seconds to tell me what's going on. One."

She was silent, but her hands were starting to shake.

"Two."

"Fine," she spat, lowering her voice and checking around them to make sure no one was in hearing distance. "I didn't come here to see my parents. I came here to try to lure Kol into a trap."

* * *

Stefan lay down with his back pressed to the top of the kitchen counter and stared at the row of plastic water bottles that lined the shelf on top of the cupboards. Each one had been emptied and refilled with the thick gel-like drink that Bonnie, Lucy, and Joanna had made to create their army.

Somehow, he just couldn't wrap his head around the idea. A drink that could bring back the dead? Of course, Bonnie had explained it all to him—once the potion is in your system, you concentrate on whom you want to bring back and they appear, temporarily—but it was still so far-fetched.

But it didn't matter how bad the odds were, Stefan still believed that it would work.

"Hey," Caroline murmured as she walked into the kitchen. "What are you doing up there?"

Then he remembered that he was lying on top of furniture, chuckled, and sat up. "Oh right. Sorry about that. I was just looking at the uh…potions."

"They're pretty amazing, huh?"

He nodded. "Listen, Caroline, I haven't had a chance to talk to you yet, but I'm really sorry about your mom. I know how hard that must have been for you to accept."

Though she winced at his words, Caroline giggled hollowly. "One day at a time. Especially since I'm going to see her again in a few days."

"How do you stay so optimistic all the time?"

She shrugged, as tears began to boil in her eyes. "Hope."

* * *

"Let go of me, Damon," she growled as he dragged her by the arm around to the side of the restaurant where no one would hear them. She jerked out of his grasp immediately.

"Are you out of your damn mind, Elena?" he demanded through his teeth. "You're using a visit to your parents to capture _Kol_?"

"He killed Caroline's mom, Damon. He has to be stopped."

"How did you even know he would be here?"

She hesitated. "The night Kol killed Sheriff Forbes, he took something from her house. Jeremy figured out that it was the phone records for the entire tri-state area. So I called Matt and asked him to do a little research on it. What he found out was that Kol has been tracking the use of my mom's phone. When she uses it, he'll be able to tell where they are and use them against me. Apparently, the phone doesn't get used a lot, but…" she pulled out her own phone. "Not today."

He wrinkled his nose. "Can you take a step out of the kookoo's nest for one second and think about what you're doing? You're using your parents as bait, and it's going to get them killed."

"Why are you so against this? I thought you of all people would be proud. I'm doing exactly what you would do if you were in my shoes. I'm taking the risks that are needed to get things done."

"So what happens when you get to the end of the risky road and realize you got your parents killed?" he asked. "I don't want to be against this, Elena, but somebody's got to be the sane one. And I'm pissed that it's got to be me, but it's you and it's your parents."

Her face fell, just slightly. She didn't exactly anticipate that he would have to be the voice of reason. What she really wanted was for him to be on her side. But it was too late now. Whether he liked it or not, she was going through with this.

Then she caught sight of Kol coming toward the entrance from over his shoulder, and she grinned. "There's our little fish now," she said. "Are you going to help me bag him or not?"

* * *

Jeremy tossed a brown and black duffel bag onto the pile of others near the front door. "Well," he grunted from excursion. "That's the last of them."

Bonnie turned around to look back at the house with a solemn smile. "I'm going to miss this place. I can't believe we're actually leaving."

"Yeah, but leaving means Klaus is almost dead and gone for good."

She nodded. It was hard to deny the accuracy of that.

Moments later, Stefan strode down the stairs with Caroline behind him and two satchels in his hands. However, he didn't set them down with the rest of the suitcases packed by the door.

"You got the precious cargo?" Jeremy wondered.

Stefan held up the bag in his right hand. "The stake, now transformed into a fully functional hybrid dagger." He held up the bag in his left hand. "The bottles of Morte Tonica. We're all set."

Lucy walked in with a thick and easily distinguishable grimoire in her hands. She hugged Bonnie around the waist and handed her the book.

"Here you go, Bonnie," she said, warmly. "I want you to have it. It was the very first grimoire I ever studied. I hope you learn a lot from it."

"You really think I'm ready to do the spell that activates the potions by myself?"

"Of course." Lucy adjusted a few strands of hair that had fallen on Bonnie's shoulder. "You can't teach a bird how to fly unless you push it off the branch. I know you'll do fine. You're a Bennett witch. Magic is like a second nature to us."

Stefan stepped forward. "Thank you for all you've done for us, Lucy."

"Oh, it was my pleasure. And if you ever need us again, for anything, just give us a call."

"We'll see you soon though, right?" Jeremy questioned. "This Saturday? We can't bring Klaus down without you."

"I said I would help, and I will," she promised. "Just take care of each other, alright?"

They all gave nods and smiles as they picked up their bags and walked out the door to their cars, headed for home.

* * *

As soon as Kol pushed open the glass door and the little bell dinged, Elena quickly stepped out from where she stood in the corner and subtly pierced the syringe of vervain into his hip before he could even see her coming. The vervain instantly went into his bloodstream, and he faltered forward. Damon jumped up from his seat at the bar and hustled Kol's limp body into the men's room.

Elena ducked out of the restaurant, not wanting to stay long enough for her parents to notice her face, and went out to the car where she yanked open the trunk as far as it would go.

Soon, Damon managed to wiggle Kol's body out of the window of the bathroom and come out the front door himself. He grabbed him by the ankles and dragged him to where Elena waited with the open trunk.

"You snapped his neck?" she checked.

"And loaded him with a crap-full of vervain. He's not going anywhere tonight," he smirked.

She smiled with him, an unusually evil smile on her part, but it was short-lived. "C'mon. Let's get him out of here before anyone sees us loading a body into your car."

* * *

Caroline took a bite of pizza, and then lifted up her beer bottle. "Cheers."

Stefan connected his with hers. "To the many beers we shall drink before guzzling down the obscenely disgusting-looking stuff Bonnie has cooked up for us."

Elena looked at Bonnie and laughed. It was hard not to join into the 'cheers' Caroline had toasted after this night of hanging out and having fun at her house. Even Damon raised his bottle to touch the rest.

Then he grabbed Elena's hand and they walked into the living room where Jeremy and Matt were playing each other in a video game. They stood there in the doorway, watching them furiously maneuver the controllers with their eyes never leaving the screen.

After a few moments, Damon handed his beer bottle to Elena and went over to where Jeremy and Matt were on the couch. "No, no, no," he yelled at them. "You're doing it all wrong."

He yanked Matt's controller out if his hands and took over for his player.

"Hey!" he protested.

"Oh relax, quarterback. You'll get your turn."

He sighed.

Elena watched them for a while, not talking but being in each other's company and not resisting it. She knew Damon had joined in the game partially for her, but there had to be a part of him that was having fun. The first and only time she had ever seen him play video games with Jeremy, the night ended with him threatening to kill her. So much had changed since then. It made her smile to see them interacting.

Caroline hesitantly walked into the room, a slow smile creeping across her face. She noticed the guys' attention taken up by the screen, and turned to Elena.

She held up her hand, fingers spread wide. "Five minutes," she mouthed.

Elena's eyes widened, and she checked the large clock on the wall. Sure enough, it was five minutes to midnight.

A few moments later, Bonnie was placing the plastic bottles on top of the coffee table. She set the last one down and took a seat between Caroline and Elena on the couch.

No one talked for a long time as they all picked up a bottle of clear liquid and screwed off the cap.

Damon cleared his throat. "Shall we do the countdown?"

Elena didn't expect anyone to say anything. After all, his question was sarcastic and completely rhetorical. But then Stefan glanced up at the clock from where he stood by the fireplace.

"Seven," he murmured.

She smiled. "Six."

"Five," Caroline said.

"Four," Jeremy mumbled.

Matt chuckled. "Three."

"Two," Damon said, quietly.

Bonnie waited until both hands on the clock ticked forward, and the reminder on Caroline's phone buzzed in alert.

"One," she finished, with an ominous tone.

"Happy Saturday," Damon retorted, with a smile. "Now let's get this resurrection show on the road."

* * *

Elena threw up into the kitchen sink. The aroma of pizza, beer, and the strangely clear and smelly potion lifted to her nose as she gathered her hair behind her neck to vomit again.  
"You okay?" Damon asked as he entered the kitchen. His eyes were watery and his nose was wrinkled in disgust. He grabbed a silvery bottle of vodka off the counter and rinsed his mouth with it.

She sighed. "Yeah, I'm fine. Sort of feel like a pansy, though. I was the only one who couldn't keep theirs down."

"Don't worry about it," he assured her, and glanced behind him into the living room. "Besides, Stefan's color is getting a little questionable. But just to be safe…"

He reached over and turned on the faucet so that the foul mucus washed down the drain. She laughed, but her cheeks flushed a deep red.

"Uh, guys?" Jeremy called from the base of the stairs. Elena looked at Damon and followed him to see what was wrong.

But Jeremy wasn't alone in the space at the bottom of the staircase. His eyes were wide as he stared at her. Standing there, looking so familiar it was like she never died at all, was Jenna.

Elena froze with surprise. Bonnie's potion had worked after all.

"Hey, Jere," Jenna said, so casually. "How's it been?"

"Elena?" said a voice from behind her in the kitchen.

Her body thawed enough for her to whirl around. She had just come from the kitchen. Who could be in there?

It was John. John Gilbert. _The_ John Gilbert. The one who was her uncle until he wasn't anymore. He was her biological father.

"Oh my god. John?" she gasped.

Damon glanced at her, surprised and disgusted. "Out of everyone in the whole world to bring back, you chose him?"

She shrugged. "I didn't realize I was thinking about him. I'm just as surprised as you are."

"You know, I can hear you," John told them. "Elena, thank you for bringing me back. I promise I'll help you fight against Klaus."

"Me too," Jenna added from across the house.

All Elena could do was blink at the ghosts standing so close to her.

* * *

Bonnie felt a warm hand being placed on her shoulder. She didn't have to turn around, because she knew who it was already. It wasn't just the hand that tipped her off, but the general presence of her. It correlated with so many childhood memories. Baking cookies on Christmas, hours spent being babysat and listening to her wild stories about magic and witches. How had she never believed her before? Her entire being emanated a loving trust that she couldn't ignore. Now, she could tell Bonnie that the world was flat and she would think it to be true.

She slowly turned around, her lower lip trembling. "Grams?"

"I'm here, child," said the elderly brown-haired woman that Bonnie loved with all her heart. "You have nothing to worry about. I'm so proud of what you've become."

* * *

Caroline ran a brush through her hair in the mirror of Elena's bathroom. She jumped when a face appeared in the reflection behind her.

Then her fear turned into pure excitement and elation when she turned around to see her mom smiling hugely at her.

"Mom!" she screamed, feeling like a child as she leapt into her mother's arms.

"Hi, sweetheart," she murmured over her shoulder. "I've missed you so much."

Caroline scoffed. "_You_ missed _me_? Mom, I feel so horrible about what happened. I should never have left Mystic Falls. I should have been there protecting you. Then maybe you would not be…" she trailed off, her face stinging like it ad been dipped in acid.

"Shh, shh. It's not your fault. You're the daughter, Caroline. It's _my_ job to protect _you_. Eventually, I was going to go first. We both knew that. We just didn't expect it would be sooner rather than later."

"Mommy…"

Her mom wiped her cheeks dry. "I know."

* * *

"Now why the long face, Stef?"

Stefan smiled as Lexie appeared on the couch beside him, her warm eyes looking at him the way only she could. She saw what was inside of him, not just the Ripper that he appeared to be. And, under her gaze, he felt like that person. He had missed being that person so much. And he had missed her.

"Lexie," he breathed.

"I hear you have a hybrid problem." She looked around the room. "So you decided to throw a Dawn of the Dead party in your ex-girlfriend's house? Well at least there's beer."

He chuckled, hollowly. "So you know…about Elena and me?"

"Watched it all happen. Front row on the Other Side."

"Great."

Lexie's expression softened. She leaned forward to place her hand comfortingly on his knee. "I'm going to help you, Stefan. Me and the other ghosts, we'll make sure Klaus never sees the light of day again."

* * *

Vicki leaned her shoulder against the wall as Matt passed by. At first, he didn't notice her covered up in shadow, but then he saw her face and his stomach did a little leap.

He grinned in mock disappointment. "Finally. I was beginning to think you weren't coming, Vick."

His sister laughed, her light and singsong laugh that made all the guys stop and listen. She ran forward and wrapped her arms around his neck. He felt her tears pelt against his shirt.

"Are you crying, Vick?" he asked.

She looked down, wiping away the tears. "You don't know how many times I've hugged you in the past few years. This is the first time you felt it."

This made his heart sink. The fact that she was always with him, but invisible to his eyes and ears was always present in his mind, haunting him. He would never have given her the fate she had if he could have chosen. An eternity on the Other Side…what he didn't want to mention was how many times he thought that maybe he _could_ feel her hugging him, deep in his core.

Instead of saying any of this out loud, he settled with "I missed you, Vick."

"I missed you too, Mattie," she blubbered.

He hugged her again.

* * *

Damon bent down to dig through the cabinet under the sink. It was mainly pipes and floor cleaner, but then he found it, the bottle of scotch that was hidden in the back corner where nobody else would find it. He brought it up to the counter and poured some of it into a glass.

"Going to make that two, or what?" said Alaric's exhaustingly cool voice from beside him.

Damon didn't look up from his glass, but smirked to himself. "About time you showed up."

"Sorry. Got a little delayed spying on Klaus. Trying to figure out details on the upcoming war and brutality, remember?"

He slid another glass over and filled it halfway. When he handed it to Alaric, he was actually surprised to see that the glass didn't slip through his hand like a normal ghost would. Alaric took a sip, and sighed heavily.

"Man, I miss that taste," he murmured.

"Well, could have had it sooner, but those are your idiotic choices, not mine." Damon's forehead wrinkled. "Ever going to tell me why you went to the junior Gilbert first?"

He shrugged. "He was the only one who could hear me. Believe me, I would have appreciated seeing my drinking buddy back in the game again too, but there's stuff that has to be done beforehand."

"Could you be any more cryptic?" he spat.

"I meant making sure Klaus doesn't pull a fast one on you guys. Since I am the equivalent to a fly on the wall being a dead undead ghost, I thought I'd take the liberty. Trust me, Damon, with us on your side, it's going to be _you_ who's one step ahead.""

He raised his glass. "I'm counting on it. Now come with me. I've got to run a few errands."

* * *

Kol raised his head, and the painful soreness that followed made him groan.

He looked around him, took in the sights and smells to better understand his surroundings. His guess was that he was in the Salvatores' house, underground where they kept vampires hostage. The room was a little tight, the ground was hard and smelled faintly of blood and vervain, and the only door was more like a square than any other shape and made of thick metal. There was a small rectangular opening that was bar with iron spokes.

Yes, he was definitely trapped.

The door creaked open as he sat up and rubbed the back of his neck. It must have been snapped. He could recognize the pain.

Damon walked in, his expression so smug it could win awards, with the teacher—Alaric was it—trailing behind him. Kol made no move to escape through the small slit left open in the doorway, knowing it was no use and when it was a time to save your dignity.

"Ooh, looks like you had a rough night, little buddy," Damon murmured to him.

He chuckled. "You think your silly cement prison will hold me forever?"

"Actually I was just hoping you were claustrophobic," he retorted, sarcastically.

"Sorry there, mate. Spend nine hundred years in a coffin and claustrophobia eventually fades away."

Damon narrowed his eyes. He understood that it was hard to break an Original, considering all the experience they have had in that field. No matter what you do, they've seen worse, or better, or whatever.

"Tell you what?" Damon proposed. "I keep you alive through the night, and then tomorrow you will tell me everything you know about what Klaus' strategy is against us."

"Poor little naïve Salvatore. You truly believe that any pathetic torture skills that you planned will make me sell out my own brother? But of course, what would you know about the bonds of family? How many times have you tried to kill Stefan, and falling in love with his girlfriend…so loyal."

Damon's lips pursed. "Listen to me carefully, Kol. You're position right now is work for the guy with the biggest threats against you. And, _ding ding ding_, that would be us. You're on our side now. Get used to it."

As he turned around to walk away, Kol inhaled a sharp breath.

"See you tomorrow, Damon," he taunted him.

**AN: Be warned, you might see small changes in this chapter if you decided to ever read it again. I kind of wrote it on that last spurge of energy you get just before you crash, you know? So I'm sure there are some mistakes or things I would like to change. I'm just warning you.**

**So, next chapter is nineteen? Wow, this story is growing up so fast. *wipes tear. So what do you think is going to happen at the end? Any ideas?**

**So tell me what you guys thought! I'd love to hear anything you have to say!**

**Chapter nineteen synopsis time:**

_**THE ELEVENTH HOUR- A terrible rainstorm hits Mystic Falls as the Founder's Ball and the standoff with Klaus approaches. Bonnie does what she can to prepare with the remaining time she has, and everyone feels compelled to say his or her goodbyes. Surprising allies join on their side, and Elena has a personal moment with one of them. Finally, a disadvantage puts everybody at risk as the night draws closer.**_


	19. Chapter 19

**2:17 PM**

Damon tipped his head back to down a shot glass and slammed it back onto the bar counter of the Mystic Grill. Alaric chuckled from beside.

"Thanks to my abilities as a ghost, you've got your bar back," he said.

"And I'd rather not know the specifics on how you did it," Damon slurred. "The less I know the better."

Alaric watched with an odd smile on his face as Damon picked up his second shot glass and finished it in one gulp. Damon noticed him staring and waited for him to look away, only he didn't. He sighed.

"What the hell are you staring at?" he demanded.

"Nothing," he shrugged. "I just can't believe Elena actually fell for your dumb ass."

"Yep, it's your basic boy meets brother's girl, four years later girl loves boy." Damon chuckled. "Aren't you happy for me?"

"Let's wait to see if you screw it up before I start being happy for you."

He smiled. These last few weeks with Elena had been better than his entire one hundred and sixty-something years combined, but he hadn't even realized something was missing until just now, looking at the proud expression on Alaric's face. What he was missing was being able to talk to the only person he _could_ talk to about what was going on.

"Besides," Alaric continued. "I thought you would have given up the bar hopping when you and Elena started things up."

"Well, I figured it might be the last time I ever see the inside of this place again, so why not get a drink?"

Alaric frowned. "You really don't think we're going to make it tonight, do you?"

Damon took a sip of bourbon. "Look at the facts. It's us up against an immortal hybrid and all we've got is a stupid dagger that we have no idea if it will even work. The only thing that's keeping me from grabbing Elena and getting both of us the hell out of town is this bourbon."

"Have you told Elena about this?"

"Of course not. Besides, she's busy avoiding John," he told him. "And she's got enough on her plate without adding my crap to the pile."

"So when you're around her, you're just this big ball of sunshine?" he wondered, smirking.

"What? Is yellow not my color?"

Alaric laughed, and clapped Damon on the back. "It's good to see you again, buddy."

"I should be saying that to you," Damon mumbled.

* * *

**4:04 PM**

Bonnie's phone rang as she approached the door of the Lockwood's house. She dug it out of her purse and then reached down to grab the key from underneath the potted daisies where Caroline told her Tyler had left it. She was halfway up the large staircase inside when she answered the call.

"Hello?"

"Bonnie," Jeremy's voice came from the speaker. "Where are you?"

"Tyler's house. I'm creating a barrier around the property for tonight. That way Klaus won't be able to escape when we corner him."

"Kind of like at the Masquerade Ball with Katherine?" he asked.

"Uh-huh." She found the room she was looking for, Carol's room, and went to the back where there was a sliding glass door that led to a balcony where she could see most of the house below. "So what's up?"

"I was just wondering if you wanted to come over later, when you're done. I mean considering tonight's Doom's Day and all, we could hang out."

She smiled into the phone. "Sounds great. I'll see you soon. I love you."

Bonnie hung up and pulled out the grimoire that Lucy gave her so that she could begin the boundary spell. As she began the incantations, she wondered whether tonight would go the way they hoped. She had been repressing the worries and the fear until now, but the night was getting closer and closer. There was no stopping it.

All there was left to do was hope.

* * *

**5:56 PM**

Tyler stood by the door of the Salvatore's cellar with his arms folded across his chest. He twisted his torso around to peek through the barred opening at Kol, who was seemingly sleeping with his body laid out on the floor. If it weren't for the ragged rising and falling of his chest, Tyler would think he was dead.

Footsteps sounded down the hall, and a few moments later, Caroline bounced towards him with a big smile on her face. She kissed him on the mouth.

"Hey," she said, breezily. "So Stefan has you on guard duty, I see."

He nodded. "For another hour."

"That doesn't give us much time before the party though," she frowned.

The party. That word had begun to take on a different meaning. Before, especially in her high school life, it had implied dancing and drinking. But today, it meant something darker and very evil. Like a funeral.

He laughed lightly at her and stroked her hair. "We'll make it count, don't worry. It's not like this is the last time we'll ever see each other."

"Feels like it," she mumbled, sullenly. "It's all so glum and dreary. You'd think we were all on death row." Caroline took a step closer to Tyler and dropped her voice. "And did you hear who's going to be the one to dagger Klaus?"

"Who?" he asked.

She looked around. "Jeremy," she whispered. "You and I are vampires so we can't. And I know Damon or Stefan would offer to do it for Elena in a heartbeat, but they can't either. Bonnie's probably going to be busy keeping Klaus down with magic to be the dagger-er person, and I think Jeremy volunteered so Matt wouldn't have to do it."

Tyler sighed. "Don't worry. Jeremy's not alone. We can't use the dagger, but we'll be right there in case something happens. It'll be fine."

"I hope you're right," she sighed, and leaned forward to bury her face into his shirt.

* * *

**6:32 PM**

Damon wrapped a towel around his waist as he hopped out of the shower and crossed over to his bedroom where he opened up his top drawer to pull out a pair of black dress pants.

Elena was sitting on the bed in a shirt and underwear but no pants with her knees drawn up to her chest. She was typing something into her phone.

"Hey," she said to him as he walked in. "I'm just checking in on John. I asked him to go to Oklahoma and make sure my parents stay in their house for tonight, just in case. What better protection than a ghost who could keep an eye on them but not be seen, right?"

He carefully examined her face as he laid out his pants on the bed and then replaced his towel with a pair of boxers. "You okay?"

She tossed aside the phone and shrugged. "How about I let you know tomorrow?"

"You're worrying too much, Elena. Just relax. You think I'm going to let anything happen to you?"

"It's not me I'm worried about," she complained, swinging her legs over the side of the bed and removing her t-shirt. "I'm scared that _some_one is going to die tonight and _no_ one is ready. I want to make things right with Stefan if one of us might not be here tomorrow, but there's no time. And I wanted to live long enough to see Bonnie and Jeremy get married, or get a chance to talk to my parents again…"

He sighed at the ground as she sadly took her dress—a long, strapless red ball gown with taffeta draped over the skirt—off of its hanger and slid it up over her hips. She tried and failed to reach far enough behind her to close it.

"Will you zip me up?" she murmured.

He went over to her and slowly trailed her zipper up her back. He didn't move away even after he had finished. Instead, he placed his hands on her shoulders and turned her around to face him.

"Listen to me, Elena," he said, quietly. "We're going to make it through tonight. All of us are. I promise. And when we do, I'm going to take you to see your parents, whether you sabotage it or not."

Despite all her worries, she smiled warmly at him. "I love you."

"I love you, too," he said.

A force stronger than Elena had ever known was connecting their eyes. The moment seemed to last forever, because time meant nothing when lost in his beautiful blue gaze, but then Damon's expression hardened, and he seemed like he was about to give very bad news.

"Elena, there's something else you should know."

She groaned. "Could it get any worse?"

"Careful what you wish for," he mumbled under his breath, and then steeled his shoulders. "Don't freak out, like you tend to do when you hear unpleasant things. But you know that the dagger can't be used by a vampire, right?"

She nodded, confused.

"Well, Jeremy sort of volunteered for that position."

"What?" she shouted, her blood pressure suddenly spiking to new highs. "_Jeremy_? How could he do that? He's not strong enough to take Klaus. This is suicide!"

Damon nodded once. "The loophole to the spell. Obviously, the witches couldn't give us a completely full-proof plan."

"You're not helping, Damon."

He sighed. "What I'm trying to get at here is that there had to be a balance, or whatever, and it'd be too easy if just anyone could use it. But you still shouldn't worry. Jeremy's got us on his side. Not to mention the army of the dead Bonnie's got cooked up. We'll be fine."

From downstairs, they could hear the sound of the front door opening and then closing. Elena frowned. "That must be Jeremy. He needs a tie for his tuxedo. I'm going to go talk to him."

As she walked away, Damon raised his hand to point at her accusingly. "Don't you go down there and try to talk him out of anything, Elena."

Her expression was defensive. "Of course not."

She lifted up her dress a few inches to pad down the stairs. She expected to see Jeremy standing by the front door, waiting for her to hand him the tie, but he wasn't there. In his place were two figures that Elena recognized immediately with a chill down her spine.

"Elijah?" she gasped. "Rebekah?"

They turned around to see her approach, the sound of her taffeta skirt rustling with her footsteps. Their faces were so calm and mature, and their age old eyes stared at her with something she hadn't expected. Compassion.

That look completely contradicted any fear she had of them being here. At first, all she could think of was that they were obviously working with Klaus. They were siblings, after all. But Elena could tell that this wasn't like when Kol had smuggled his way into the situation. This was different.

"What are you doing here?" she stuttered.

Elijah stepped forward. "I hope we are not too late to ask that you forgive us for our brothers' actions, Elena. We cannot undo the tragedy that he has unraveled in our beloved town, but we do stand before you with an offer."

Elena couldn't believe what she was hearing. "An offer?"

Rebekah nodded. "We want to help you dagger Klaus. It's about time someone put _him_ in a box for a few hundred years."

* * *

**6:47 PM**

"You look exceptional, Elena. I take it you are attending the soiree this evening," Elijah wondered, as Elena poured him some of the scotch that sat on the cart behind the couch in the parlor.

"We all are," she answered. "Due to recent events, that's where the final showdown with Klaus is taking place. I'd really rather it not be in such a public place, but Klaus would never to do anything to hurt his reputation here in Mystic Falls."

Elijah examined his glass. "Yes, Niklaus was always one for the theatrics, but it was infamy he avoided above all. You are right not to worry about harming any of your townsfolk."

Elena opened her mouth to say something, but snapped it shut. This was all so confusing. The last she had seen of Elijah was when she had chosen to trust him with Klaus' desiccated body; however, the last she had seen of Rebekah was her face as she watched Matt and her fly over the side of Wickery Bridge.

"I'm sorry, Elijah," she murmured. She always felt like she could say what she felt to him. "I just don't know how we're going to be able to trust you."

"We've been through this once before, Elena, and despite what Rebekah did, I held up my part of the deal. The problem with you is that you refuse to see how Niklaus has hurt others beyond yourself and your friends. I, as well, have lived in the wake of his destruction, felt the pain that he has inflicted on me, lost the loved ones he took from me—"

"Katherine?" she breathed. "You still miss her, don't you?"

"Every day. And my brother's existence is just a reminder of how he rid me of my one true chance of happiness."

Elena looked at him, with an unfathomable look in her eyes.

* * *

**6:52 PM**

A loud metal noise made Tyler raise his head from where he was laying next to Caroline on the floor of the basement.

"What the hell was that?"

He ignored Caroline's puzzled expression as he quickly pulled his pants back on and went down the dark hall to investigate.

When he came to where the room was that was holding Kol, he froze. Horror washed over him. The thick metal door was blown wide open, with a small warp in the middle, probably where Kol had kicked himself free. And, on the inside, it was empty. Just dirt. Dirt and rocks.

And no Kol.

* * *

**6:55 PM**

Elena was pouring Rebekah a drink like Elijah's when Tyler and Caroline suddenly raced into the room, breathless and terrified. Elena knew something was wrong when they didn't question the presence of the two Originals.

"What is it?" she demanded, worriedly.

Caroline sputtered, on the verge of tears. "Kol's gone. He escaped."

If that wasn't enough to send Elena over the edge, the front door flew open again and Bonnie, wearing a green satin dress, came running in, her face flushed, already covered in tears.

"Bonnie?" Rebekah asked.

Bonnie fell to her knees, clutching her stomach and crying. The rest watched, not anticipating what she was going to say.

Then she blurted it out.

"Kol took Jeremy," she screamed. "I think he's dead."

**AN: And here we are, so close to the end. It's all going down next chapter! I set aside a little more time to write it, too. But it won't be that long, so don't worry. With the way things are going now, I think I might actually make my deadline of Oct. 3 (the vampire diaries premiere date!)**

** I'm just so excited for 5x01! I don't think I'm going to make it till then. I'm going to explode. There'll be pieces of me on the walls. No joke, haha!**

** Ok, I wont keep you waiting any longer. Here it is, probably the most important synopsis yet, the chapter twenty synopsis: **

_**DEATH IS JUST A PART OF LIFE- Elena has to take matters into her own hands as the party begins, but it soon spirals way out of hand, and her, Damon, and Stefan find themselves fighting for their lives. The face off with Klaus turns deadly when secrets are revealed and the ultimate battle between hate and love is fought. Finally, one person's fate is questioned. **_


	20. Chapter 20

Elena stared out the window of Damon's bedroom into the sky beyond. Last night had been the hugest storm in Mystic Falls since 1987, and the air was still humid with the evaporated raindrops. Dark puddles filled every dip in the ground, and the trees bowed inward from the wind.

It looked exactly like Elena felt inside.

Jeremy's voice kept repeating over and over again in her head. He was screaming, screaming for someone or anyone to help him as Kol dragged him into darkness. That image was all Elena could focus on as her hands balled into fists and her muscles suddenly felt like jelly.

Was her dress suddenly a straightjacket? She actually had to look down and check. Nope. It was still the same flowing red ball gown she had put on earlier, but her body felt so restrained. It couldn't just all have been in her head.

She thought about what had happened just a few moments prior to her coming up here.

They were all standing around the living room downstairs, except for Elijah and Rebekah, who had left them alone to decide the next step for themselves, and Stefan had joined, all dressed up in his white and black suit. Bonnie's words still hung above them like the clouds that lingered outside.

"If Kol has Jeremy, then we have to save him," Elena said, shakily. "There shouldn't be a question."

Caroline's face was soft and sympathetic. "Elena, you know I want to help Jeremy, we all do, but tonight's the only chance we have of taking down Klaus. There's not going to be a next time if we wait any longer."

"She's right," Tyler agreed. "We have to go to the party or else Klaus is going to kill everyone there, including Matt."

"No," Elena persistently argued through her teeth. "_Bonnie's_ right. Jeremy could be dead right now. Kol must have found out that Jeremy was the one set to dagger Klaus so he killed him. Or even turned him into a vampire before he killed him so that he could spend an eternity on the Other Side, just to get back at me for capturing him as a bonus."

Everyone, except Elena, turned to exchange worried glances. Even Bonnie had come to believe what Caroline was saying. It seemed that they all understood that Elena couldn't be negotiated with on the matter. Some of them even had expressions of wariness, as if to ask why they were even bothering wasting time on her. For a second, she was afraid that they were going to lock her up in a closet until after the party.

Instead, Damon sighed. "Elena, there's no time for this. Let's just go to the party, and then we can decide where to go from there."

His words caught her off guard. She hadn't expected for him to take their side. The look on her face must have been disgusted, but he showed no signs of remorse as he stared back.

"Damon's right, Elena," Stefan murmured. "We have to think about our priorities—"

"No, Stefan!" she interrupted, suddenly so belligerent that she was making wild hand gestures as she spoke. "I can't believe any of you. If it were me, or you, or you, Jeremy would blow this off to save us. So now that's it's up to me…? He's my _brother_. I can't let him die."

She kept repeating the last sentence over and over again, quietly under her breath, as she whirled around and sprang up the stairs to Damon's room, not looking back at the others when she left.

And that brought her back to now, staring longingly out the window like she was in some cheesy movie.

Her phone vibrated on the low table beside her. She picked it up to see it was a text from an unknown number. But what was inside the text made her blood freeze over.

It was just a picture—slightly blurry and out of focus, like the cameraman was in the middle of motion when he took it—of Jeremy, lying on the floor of a dark, dusty room with one bare light bulb. She immediately recognized this room to be the attic of Tyler's house from when people used to make out up there a few years back. Now it was where Kol was holding Jeremy.

The way Jeremy's body was flailed across the ground, eyes half-closed, and skin covered in spots of dirt, made Elena want to scream at the top of her lungs for a month straight. But then there was a voice inside her mind that was saying everything would be all right, because now she knew where he was.

As she threw her phone into her purse, the sound of footsteps came into the room behind her. She turned around to see Stefan and Damon walk in, both equally hesitant and scrutinizing of her.

"Look, Elena, we're sorry we had to ambush you like that," Stefan apologized. "But what you have to understand is, it will be a miracle if Jeremy lives tonight. What we need to do is use our time on Klaus while we still can."

"Do you get what we're saying?" Damon asked.

Elena put on the best fake smile she could manage. "What part of this is hard to get, Damon? How it took all of two seconds for my brother to be demoted from priority to a lost cause?"

"He's not a lost cause. We're going to help him if we can."

"When, Damon? When? After taking care of Klaus? Because, to be honest with you, I couldn't care less about that right now."

The two boys exchanged a glance, like they were both trying to get through to an insane person. This irritated Elena more than anything, sent her blood boiling through her veins, and in that second she decided her own plan of action.

Elena sighed, but from that moment on, nothing she did was real. Without either of them noticing, she pulled a small silver object out of her purse.

"I'm sorry," she placated them. "You guys are right. We should go to the party." Then, she held walked forward and held out her elbows for them to stick their arms through and escort her. But as they complied, she whipped the object out, turned sideways, and stuck it into Damon's stomach.

He doubled over, groaning from the immense toll the vervain injection was taking on his strength, and was out on the ground in seconds.

Stefan sucked in a sharp breath, and hurriedly tried to wrap his arms constrictively around her, but she was ready for him. Fueled by anger and a little bit of craziness, she threw the back of her elbow into his nose, hard enough to knock him out cold.

She stepped over them and then flashed with vampire speed out of the window and in the direction of the party.

* * *

Caroline stepped out of her car and onto the gravel in her heeled shoes. The night air was biting against the skin exposed on her leg from the tight, high-necked black dress she was wearing. Matt was standing there, illuminated by the lights of the Lockwood house before them, in a rented tux.

"I heard about Jeremy," he called, as she walked toward him. "Is Elena okay?"

She pursed her lips. "Try extremely difficult. But the Salvatores are going to have to handle her tonight, because we've got a show to do."

"You can stop with the euphemisms right there," he chuckled. "We both know this is not going to be the most pleasant evening of our lives."

She nodded, sadly. "So, here's the game plan. You and I are going to wait for word from Tyler, who's scoping out the place as we speak, to tell us where Klaus might be hiding an secret weapons. Lucy is staying with the crowds just in case Kol decides to show his face. Bonnie and the ghosts are going to wait in the rec room until it's time to use magic to lure Klaus in there. We good?"

"I guess there really is no going back once we get in there, especially for you," he murmured.

Before she had time to answer, her phone rang. Sure enough, it was Tyler with news of their next step.

"He brought a whole bunch of his friends with him. I can tell because they are the only people here I don't recognize," he explained.

"Hybrids?"

"No, I don't think so. I would know if there were other wolves here, so obviously they're just a bunch of vampires he's been screwing over. But I followed a few of them to the entrance to the underground tunnels."

Caroline locked eyes with Matt. "Tunnels?" she mouthed to him.

He nodded.

"Okay, got it. We'll check out the tunnels. You should stay on full alert, though. We've still got a long night ahead of us."

"Stay safe," he told her. "Love you."

"Love you too." She slipped the phone back into her clutch and followed Matt inside the house to where the entrance to the tunnels was located.

* * *

Elena entered the front door of the Lockwood's house and did her best to appear calm and composed. She hoped that that was how she was coming off to the crowds of formally dressed people who were standing around drinking champagne, completely unaware of what was going to happen.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Matt and Caroline ducking into a broom closet that used to be a servant's quarters back when the house was built. That room was where the entrance to the underground tunnels was. It must have something to do with Klaus. Elena tried to ignore this as she quickly hustled up two flights of stairs and found the string hanging from the ceiling of the hallway.

She pulled the string and the small door flew out, unfolding with it a ladder that Elena stumbled to climb with her high-heels.

The attic was just like the picture had described. Paneled in old wood from the Civil War, dotted with cobwebs, and as cold as the air outside, it gave off a creepy vibe that sent a shiver, not due to the cold, down Elena's spine.

She didn't see Jeremy, but she knew he was there. The attic was large, almost half the size of her entire house, and she would look everywhere until she found him.

* * *

"Damon?" Rebekah called as she strode down the hallway. "Stefan? Where are you? The party's already started."

Then, as she rounded the corner and passed through the doorway to Damon's bedroom, she saw the two brothers lying on the floor face down, unconscious.

"Oh my god," she murmured, and jogged forward to flip them over. Stefan's nose was bruised but healing and Damon had a mostly closed up gash in his abdomen. As she rolled their bodies so they were facing up, Stefan eyes fluttered open, and Damon awoke with a groan.

"What the hell happened?" she demanded as they sat up. "I thought you had left with Elena for the party already."

Damon's eyes widened. "Wait, are you saying Elena _left_?"

"Yes, a few moments ago. Why?"

He exchanged a furious and worrisome glance with Stefan as they both hobbled to their feet. Rebekah watched them with puzzlement and surprise. Damon turned to her.

"You, come with us," he barked. "We're going to need some extra hands."

* * *

"You got a flashlight?" Matt wondered from a few steps ahead as they wandered through the tunnels. "It's dark as hell down here."

Caroline reached down into her purse and pulled out a small handheld flashlight, flicked it on, and aimed it at the ground they were walking on. "I can't believe I never knew that these tunnels were here before."

"Well, you know Mrs. Lockwood. She tries to cover up anything that had to do with slaves and all that history stuff. Remember how she reacted when Tyler found the Lockwood cellar?" He stopped for a moment to laugh quietly to himself. "These tunnels run all underneath the house and connect at the cellar."

"What do you think Klaus wants with them?"

Matt was about to answer, when suddenly his shoe crossed over new terrain. They were still in the middle of the tunnel, but the floor was different. Instead of smooth dirt, it was crunchy gravel that made a loud sound when you stepped on it.

Caroline saw him stop and met up with him. "What's wrong?"

"Shine the light on the ground over here," he told her.

She moved the beam of light to where he was pointing just beyond the tip of his leather shoes. Now that he could see it better, Matt decided that it wasn't gravel at all, but thousands of pieces of metal shrapnel.

He thought nothing of it, until Caroline inhaled a sharp breath. "Oh my god, Elena told me about these. Klaus used them to kill all of the hybrids. This must be why Tyler saw one of his new vampire friends going into the tunnels, so that he could put them here."

"Hold on a second, Caroline," he interjected. "_What_ are these?"

She hesitated. "They're bombs."

"Bombs?" he repeated. "You mean like actual bombs? Because if you do, then I think Klaus wanted them here so he could blow up the rec room."

"You're probably right. Only, they need to be ingested before exploding."

Matt considered that. "Maybe all they need is to get wet. Think about it. There are tons of pipes of above these tunnels. If even just one of them leaks, we'll be blown to pieces."

"So that must be his escape plan," she murmured. "When we get too tough for him to handle, he has one of his vampire friends flip on a sink so he can watch us vaporize into nothing."

"What are we going to do?"

It was a good question. They couldn't just leave the tiny bombs here. That would be suicide. But now that they knew about them, they could use them against Klaus. It was like he had supplied them their very own weapon.

"Here's what we're going to do," she ordered. "Take as many as we can with us."

He followed her lead as she leaned down onto her knees and began scooping the pieces of shrapnel into her purse.

* * *

The sound of a voice, muffled and unintelligible, made Elena jump with a start. She whirled around to see her brother, lying in the corner with his hands and feet tied up and a gag in his mouth, struggling to get her attention.

She almost passed out in relief.

"Oh my god, Jeremy," she cried, rushing forward to unbind his ligaments. "Thank god, you're alive."

The last thing she untied was his mouth, and up until then he had been making noises like he was trying to say something. When she had completely removed the gag, he gasped for breath then quickly found the words.

"You have to get out of here!" he shouted. "It's a trap!"

Elena felt her body freeze into stone cold ice. If a heart rate could go high enough for it to jump out of your chest and race off, then she was suddenly nearing that range.

"Kol?" she gasped.

Jeremy shook his head and then glanced sideways.

She followed his eyes, and saw that beside them, a few yards away, was Kol's limp body.

He was flat on his back, eyes shut, but still breathing despite the grayish and vein-striped complexion all over the surface of his skin that gave off the impression that he was somewhat decomposing. Elena then noticed the object protruding from his chest. It was a silver dagger.

With a chilling certainty, she realized that Kol was not the one to be afraid of anymore. It was someone else.

A figure stepped out from the darkness behind where Kol was laying, unconscious. It was very anticlimactic for Elena, because it took her a few moments to put a name with a face, but Jeremy quickly understood who it was, and stiffened from beside her.

"Officer Johnson," he mumbled, and then turned to Elena. "The guy who arrested me."

"I thought you said he was dead."

Jeremy gasped. "I bet he had vampire blood in his system before he was killed."

There was a chuckle from the man standing above them as he reached into his belt and pulled out a gun. "He's right, sweetheart," he sneered. "I'm just as undead as you are. And when I'm done with you disgusting vampires, you're going to be wishing you were just _dead_."

The gun was directed at her head.

* * *

"She went that way," Rebekah sighed, pointing up to the entrance to the attic.

Both Stefan and Damon stared at the small doorway questionably. It was clear that they didn't believe her, nor did they have a reason too. It was surprising enough that her and Elijah had made the decision to help them take down Klaus, but also taking part in taking down Kol?

"Are you sure," Stefan checked.

She rolled her eyes. "You asked me to follow her scent, so I did. That's where she went."

Damon looked over the door, and then pursed his lips at Rebekah. "You coming with us, or not?"

"Not," she immediately snapped at him. "Look, Nik is my number one problem right now. As much as I would love to watch you come to Elena's rescue again, I have better things to do."

She sighed and walked back the way they had come.

"Looks like it's just you and me, brother," Stefan murmured. "You ready for this."

"The question is, are _you _ready? Because things could get messy up there, and if the situation between you and Elena gets in the way…"

"You first," Stefan interrupted, emotionlessly, yanking on the string so the door slid down, revealing a wooden ladder which they climbed quietly.

They slowly stepped into the dark and eerie attic, trying not to make a sound. It was empty, but they both seemed to have the sense that there was something there, something they could not see. Then the smell of dried blood lifted to their noses, and they followed it.

Around the corner, past a body length mirror and a few old trunks, they saw Elena. She was standing up, facing them like she had been waiting for them to get here. But the expression on her face made both of them stop several steps away. Something about her eyes made them think she was trying to tell them something. Damon glanced back at Stefan, who seemed fixed on watching how Elena was focusing on getting the air in and out of her lungs.

Damon raised his arms and then let them fall. He thought Kol would be here. "Elena? Where's Jeremy?"

Tears began to build up in her eyes. With careful hesitation, she took a slow step forward to reveal the person standing behind her holding a gun to her head.

* * *

"I'm telling Tyler the tunnels are clear," Caroline said, typing into her phone as her and Matt ostentatiously slipped back into the party scene. "I'm going to meet him in the rec room with Bonnie in a few minutes."

"Alright. I'll stay here."

Caroline sighed and looked Matt in the eye. "Are you sure about this?"

"Kol has Jeremy," he said, simply. "I'm sure whatever he's going through right now is way worse than me being the one to lead Klaus in the right direction."

"Yeah but Jeremy's whole plan was for him to be the one so it didn't have to be you. He wanted you to be able to finish high school and graduate."

"What about _his_ graduation? He deserves on just as much as I do."

She bit her lip and checked over her shoulder. "Okay, don' tell Elena, or anyone, that I'm saying this. But I just think Jeremy realizes that a normal life isn't in the cards for him. I mean maybe he did when Elena was human, but everything changed that night that she died. _You_ are the only one of us with a chance."

He smiled. "Cool. No pressure or anything."

Caroline laughed and touched her hand to his shoulder. "Good luck. See you in a few." Then she turned and walked up the large staircase to where the recreation room was on the second floor.

Matt watched for a moment to make sure she got up there safely, and then proceeded to stroll through the house, watching the rest of the town converse and dance and drink. Mostly, it was adults he'd seen around the Grill and school functions. And then there was the occasional person he had never seen before in his life.

These must be the vampires Klaus brought, he thought to himself. With every unfamiliar face that crossed his vision, another shot of anger spread through his veins. They were all people, just like the people around him, who had lives and families and their own town balls to go to before Klaus turned them into vampires and destroyed their futures.

But that was his human compassion talking, and if Damon has taught him anything in the past, it's that you can't let your emotions get in the way if you want to save the people you love. So he rewired his mindset, and actually came up with a plan.

He reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a handful of the tiny metal bombs that him and Caroline found in the tunnels. He'd guessed he might want them. Then he went over to stand close by one of the vampires he didn't recognize. She was holding a plate she'd loaded with food from the buffet table and busy talking with another vampire.

Matt walked by, and 'accidentally' bumped against her shoulder.

During their brief second of contact, Matt's fist opened and a handful of metal shrapnel fell into her food.

"Oh excuse me," he murmured. "I should watch where I'm going."

She looked at him, suspiciously. Klaus had probably given her and the others simple directions to trust nobody. But she soon relaxed and smiled slightly at him. "It's alright. Don't worry about it."

He walked away, but as soon as he was far enough, he turned around and watched her take a bite of her explosive food.

It was inevitable now. In less than half an hour, she would be dead, and it was all Matt's fault.

But he hoped it would work out the way he wanted it to.

"Having an eventful evening?" wondered a menacing voice from behind him.

Matt whirled around to confirm that it was Klaus, who was staring at him with eyes of a hawk about to pounce on a small field mouse.

"I am now," he replied.

He chuckled. "Matt, is it? I was just wondering as to where the rest of your friends were. Elena, Damon, the little witch Bonnie…"

"I'll show you," Matt said. "Follow me."

Klaus seemed surprised that Matt had so quickly offered to give up the location of his friends, but then again he had no idea that it was just a part of the plan as he followed Matt up the stairs to the wide double doors that led to the rec room.

"Here they are," he said, throwing open the doors.

About a dozen pairs of eyes stared at Klaus as he entered the room. It was like a battle ground the way they were lined up. Bonnie, Lucy, Tyler, and Caroline stood at the front; the same smug smile was on each of their faces. Behind them was a group of angry ghosts, Sheriff Forbes, Grams, Vicki, Lexi, Jenna, and Alaric. Power emanated from their stances, which even Matt couldn't help but be intimidated by.

And on either side of the front line, shocking Klaus the most was Elijah and Rebekah.

"What's wrong Klaus?" Rebekah tauntingly asked.

"Afraid?" Elijah finished.

Klaus looked around and chuckled. "You don't really think you can kill me, do you?"

Bonnie and Matt locked eyes, and she reached behind her to toss him something long and slender. He used his four years of football practice to catch the silver dagger and bottle of ash.

"Yeah we do," he answered, proudly. "Remember this?"

Klaus looked down at the object in Matt's hands. "Ah yes, the infamous White Oak stake, burned down into a dagger that will kill me and keep my bloodline unharmed. What a perfect plan. Although, you might have overlooked a few aspects."

"And what are those?" Caroline asked.

Klaus pulled out his phone, and typed out one short little text.

Within moments, a line of vampires marched into the room and stood on Klaus' flank, among them was the woman Matt had poisoned with the bomb shrapnel. She caught sight of him standing there, and her eyes widened.

"Actually, Klaus," Lucy chimed in. "We didn't overlook anything. You see the people behind me? They're our friends and family, most of them you single-handedly killed yourself. They are ghosts, and like you, they cannot die."

Klaus wasn't fazed. "Alright, one point for the Mystic Falls gang. You assembled a quite wonderful little army there, and even managed to coerce my siblings into joining your battalion. But I think I have just one more little surprise for you."

The door opened up once more, and she stepped into the room, joining Klaus' side with a look of devious evil on her face.

"Oh my god," Caroline breathed.

Bonnie's face turned white. "Katherine."

* * *

"Who the hell are you?" Damon demanded.

Officer Johnson tucked the gun back into his belt and took out a bigger one with a longer barrel. He pointed it at Damon with a chuckle. "I'm the guy who's going to kill you."

With a loud _crack_, a wooden bullet flew into Damon's knee and his leg buckled underneath him. Elena gasped as he fell to the ground, groaning loudly from the pain.

"Get her out of here," he moaned to the floor, obviously addressing Stefan.

Stefan's eyes turned red, and purple veins crawled down his cheeks. He jumped forward, but Officer Johnson quickly raised his gun again. This time, Elena did something to stop it. Just as the gun went off, she cupped a hand around his neck and pushed him into the wall, knocking the gun out of his hand.

The gun misfired into Stefan's left hipbone. He could tell that it connected with bone, because he suddenly couldn't move from the fiery sensation of cracked muscle. He collapsed on the ground beside Damon.

Elena growled at Officer Johnson, repeatedly slamming his head into the wood-paneled wall. She lifted him up higher so that his feet left the ground, not even noticing when he managed to pull out a small wooden knife from his belt until he was stabbing it into her hand.

She cried out in pain and stumbled backward, releasing him with her broken hand. He stood up, regaining full composure, stepped forward, and plunged his hand into her chest, clutching her heart between his fingertips.

An overwhelming and shocking agony held her frozen around his hand. Feeling his skin against her bare pulsing organ was like being electrified. The idea that, with just a small movement, he could pull her heart straight out of her body terrified her to new extremes. But the worst was how helpless she felt. The fear disabled her to move or even breathe.

"Still want to make a move, sweetheart?" he murmured.

She put all her energy into taking one single breath, but, when she opened her mouth, blood spurted out onto her chin.

"P-please," she gasped.

Officer Johnson's expression didn't falter, except when he turned his lips up into a snarl and Elena knew he wasn't going to end it right then and there.

She braced herself for the pain of death.

There was another loud shot and Officer Johnson's head whipped to the side. Elena saw that Jeremy had managed to grab the gun off of the floor from where he was laying and shoot a large bullet hole into his temple. It took a moment, but his hand finally relaxed around her heart and he toppled onto his back, unconscious.

Elena fell onto her side, struggling for breath. Looking down at her chest, the sight of the large red gaping hole made her almost throw up. She could see all the way inside of her, and it wasn't healing.

Because she was different than other vampires. She didn't heal.

"Damon," she panted. "I'm not healing."

She turned her head up to the ceiling but couldn't move any more to see his face. But she knew he was still on the ground too, digging the bullet out of his knee. The sound of his fingers searching through flesh suddenly stopped, and it was quiet.

"It's okay, Elena," he murmured. "Stay calm. You just need blood and, as it turns out, I've got plenty over here."

"I can't move."

There was a pause. "You can do it, Elena. Just focus."

She did focus. She focused hard on the sound of his voice, mustered all her strength, and rolled over. It was possibly the hardest thing she had ever done. The will to just lie down and die had never been stronger, and she fought it all so that she could position herself on her stomach and crawl forward.

But then an idea came to her, one much simpler than Damon's.

Officer Johnson's weak, limp body was just right there, giving no sign of protest as she leaned over him and sank her fangs into his neck.

* * *

"That's why you wanted to find the grimoire from the Martin's collection," Bonne breathed. "This whole time you were working for Klaus."

"He promised me my freedom," Katherine told her, as if this little piece of information justified her actions. "What was I supposed to do? Say no?"

Elijah sighed. "Katerina…"

Katherine flinched at the sound of Elijah's voice, but refused to meet his eyes. There was too much guilt on her face, so she kept her head down, only looking at the floor. "I had no choice. After everything's over, I'll collect my freedom and you won't see the likes of me ever again."

"Can't say I'll be disappointed," Rebekah muttered.

Klaus laughed, quietly. "That's right, I did promise you an eternity of freedom in exchange for your service, didn't I? Well, I guess it's time I grant you it then."

All of a sudden, Klaus was gone, and replacing him was a blur of colors that made a trail from where he was standing to the coat rack by the door. There was a snap as he tore a piece of wood from the coat rack and reappeared at Katherine's side before she could even blink.

Then he plunged the tip of the wooden spear into her heart.

* * *

Stefan held his wrist up to Jeremy's mouth, while Elena fed from Damon's.

Officer Johnson's blood had been enough to strengthen her so that she could sit up and think straight. It also gave Damon enough time to remove the bullet from his knee and heal to feed her his blood.

"Feel better?" he asked her, running his hand through her hair.

She nodded. "Thank you."

He helped her up, just as Jeremy stood up as well. Then Stefan froze; his jaw went tight.

"You hear that?" he whispered. "Downstairs, it's happening."

Goosebumps rose on Elena's arms at the seriousness of his voice, and Damon looked down at her worriedly.

"You guys go," Stefan said to them. "I'll stay with Jeremy and take care of Kol's and this guy's bodies. Go."

* * *

Elijah's cry was impossible to ignore as Katherine fell to the ground.

Caroline was shocked at how abrupt it had went. One moment, Katherine was there, and then she just wasn't. She had no time to even comprehend that she was going to die. He just killed her.

How can someone do that?

It wasn't like she was going to miss Katherine or anything, but it still amazed her how someone could be so violent and aggressive that they could just end another person's life forever. It was hard for to even ask the waiter for more Sweet N' Low, and Klaus took Katherine's life like it was routine, like he was tying his shoe or spelling his own name.

"Well," he said, dusting off his hands as he tossed aside the bloody wooden spike. "That takes care of that."

Elijah lurched forward, so suddenly that it surprised everyone in the room. But Rebekah and Tyler were the closest. They grabbed him by his shoulders and restrained him from ripping out Klaus' throat like he so badly wanted to. The scene was almost playing out inside his glistening eyes.

Klaus watched, bemused, and then he turned to one of his henchmen. "Get rid of it," he ordered, motioning to Katherine's grayish body.

The vampire wordlessly dragged her out of the room. Silence followed. Matt was edgy, waiting for the perfect opportunity to stick the dagger in Klaus' chest.

"Now it's all a matter of whom I kill next," Klaus murmured, silkily, his eyes scanning the group gathered before him. It was like a game. Everyone hoped he wouldn't choose him or her. Then his eyes rested on Tyler.

"Ah, Tyler," he grinned hugely. "Nice to see you again. Now my memory seems a bit foggy, but are you not responsible for the unsiring of my beloved hybrids?"

Tyler frowned, but he stood up straight, looking Klaus in the eye. "Yes. I take full responsibility."

Caroline whimpered.

Klaus nodded at one of his vampires.

The woman that Matt recognized from earlier crossed the space between the two opposing sides and wrapped her arm around Tyler's neck. He didn't resist her as she brought them both forward.

Klaus knelt down and picked up the broken wooden spoke, still covered in Katherine's blood. With Tyler just a few inches in front of him, he took the tip of it and pressed it against his chest. It poked through the fabric of his shirt.

Caroline's hand flew to her mouth with a scream. Tears were streaming out of her eyes.

Something had to happen. Something was _about_ to happen. Tyler wasn't going to die. He couldn't die.

The tension became too much for Caroline. It was all around her like thick smoke, wrapping around her throat, constricting her. She realized she couldn't breathe, but she managed to get out another scream.

"_Tyler_!"

A dark-headed figure appeared out of nowhere and knocked Klaus to the ground. The ersatz stake rolled into the corner.

Katherine held Klaus down, her dainty hand around his neck.

"Oh my god," Bonnie cried. "What's happening?"

"I'm sorry," Elijah said, staring at Katherine with guilt. "Elena gave me a little of your potion. I didn't think I would use it, until just a few moments ago."

So Katherine was just another ghost, brought back by Elijah. It was all so confusing, but it was working somehow. Katherine had Klaus pinned with her new strength. It was actually ironic. She finally had the immortality she had always dreamed of acquiring. She just had to die to get it.

The woman still held Tyler in a tight grip. He couldn't break free.

The door to the room opened and shut all in one second, and then Damon was there, helping Katherine restrain Klaus. He skillfully snapped Klaus' neck while she contained his scrambling body. Matt went over to where they were and pulled out the dagger, positioning it above his chest.

"Make it count, quarterback," Damon muttered.

Elena also came out of nowhere and grabbed the jagged coat rack pole so that she could jam it into the woman's shoulder. She released Tyler immediately with a moan of pain.

It all happened so fast, they didn't even notice when the woman removed the spike and began coughing up blood.

They didn't notice at all. Nothing. The vampire just choked up all this blood into her hands while they were so oblivious. They saw none of it, until she used her last bits of strength to reach up and grab Elena's elbow. And then she exploded.

She just exploded.

**AN: Wow, so yeah that's it. Hope it was long enough for **_**you**_** guys because, come on, that was like the longest chapter yet! **

** Are you worried about Elena? You should be! And, well, I think I'll just leave it at that.**

** My plan was to finish this chapter yesterday and then I would have a week to post the last two, but I got busy. Well, I guess it was just one day. But I'm going to have to hurry if I want to get this story completed before Thursday!**

** The penultimate chapter! The synopsis for chapter twenty-one:**

_**ALL THE KING'S HORSES- Tensions are high as the debate on how to save Elena's life takes place, and Damon has an idea that shocks them all. Caroline visits Klaus in his final night, and what he has to say comes to her as a surprise. Finally, the ghosts say goodbye and disappear again.**_


	21. Chapter 21

Mrs. Lockwood told everyone the explosion was caused by a leak in the pipes. Nobody noticed the difference because nobody really cared. The party commenced, like nothing had happened at all.

Without Klaus, the army of vampires surrendered. They left with their lives, which was more than some of the rest of them had.

Damon and Stefan took Klaus and Kol to the tomb until further notice, where Bonnie lifted another boundary spell over the door. Any vampire who went in couldn't come out. Then the three of them went to the Gilbert's house, where Matt, Caroline, and Jeremy were tending to Elena. It had been Matt's idea to give her a generous dose of vervain, like an anesthetic, to put her to sleep. They were all thankful for this. The pain was just too much for her to bear.

They laid her down on her bed upstairs, where Bonnie did what she could to the wounds. Herbs, balms, natural medicines…none of it helped. None of it could make her look like Elena again, because she didn't. This tortured person was unrecognizable. Her skin was so badly burned, bruised, and bleeding in almost every square inch that her olive tone could not be found. Her hair was singed to her shoulders and gave off a horrible smoky smell that made your stomach churn if you were close enough. But with her eyes closed, the stranger seemed at peace.

Bonne finally finished up and went downstairs, where everyone was standing in a circle with equally unpleasant expressions.

"What's going on?" Bonnie whispered to Jeremy.

"We're arguing about how to help Elena."

He was right. As she watched, Stefan and Damon were locked in an angry gaze that put new meanings to the phrase 'if looks could kill'. Caroline was standing at Stefan's side, obviously backing him up. And Matt was just apart of the background, his voice not enough to be heard.

"This is what we're going to do," Stefan shouted. "We're going to try giving her more vampire blood. And if that doesn't work, maybe human blood can heal her too."

"Haven't we exhausted that enough?" Bonnie jumped in, confused. "You guys already tried giving her blood. Her throat is just too badly burned to swallow anything. I wish it were possible, but it just isn't."

Damon waved his hand at her. "You see? And human blood is just going to have the same results, which is why we have to consider our other options."

"What other options?" Caroline asked.

He sighed, as if it were obvious. "Elena still has some channeling abilities leftover from fixing the hybrids, right? Well, what if she can borrow one of Klaus' special talent of body jumping long enough to ditch that piece of char she's in right now?"

"Oh my god," Caroline gasped, and then laughed loudly. "That's the most ridiculous idea I've ever heard. You want her to switch bodies?"

Stefan shook his head. "It'll never work. She has to be completely concentrated to channel. How the hell do you suppose she can do that when we can't even keep her awake without her going into cardiac arrest from the pain?"

"That's where the Mrs. Jeremy Gilbert comes in. Surely, Lucy taught her some witch crap that can help Elena channel in her sleep."

Bonnie shrugged. "She gave me her grimoire. It could work."

"You see?"

"I'm sorry, Damon," Stefan said. "But that's too risky. We can't jeopardize any chance that Elena could wake up. She's better off the way she is right now until we can think of something better. And we _will_ think of something better."

"And how am I supposed to explain to her when she dies and visits me as a ghost that the only reason she's dead is because you didn't want to take any risks?" Jeremy wondered, icily. "Bonnie said she only has a few hours left until her lungs give out, or she suffocates on the amount of soot in her throat. So there's no time to waste on being practical. I can't believe I'm saying this, but Damon's right. We need to try everything possible to make sure she survives. When Kol took me, Elena didn't hesitate to risk her own life to save me. She doesn't deserve anything less than the same."

Damon watched Jeremy peculiarly, obviously surprised that he agreed with him.

"Okay, let's say, for just a minute, that we go with Damon's idea," Stefan hypothesized, with a finger to his chin. "Exactly whose body is she supposed to take?"

For that, Jeremy had no answer. But he was sure Damon did. He wouldn't have suggested anything this outrageous without preparing all the stops. And when he turned to look at Damon, his expression told Jeremy that he was right. He did know.

"I was thinking," Damon mused. "Katherine's."

* * *

"Are you insane?" Caroline demanded.

"Elena can't just take Katherine's body. Surely there's about twenty supernatural rules that that violates," Stefan yelled.

Damon's eyes flashed. "What the hell is the big problem? Katherine's dead. Her body's up for grabs. It hasn't even had time to decompose yet. They already look alike. Admit it, it's a great idea."

Jeremy nodded along, but neither Stefan nor Caroline could be convinced.

Caroline sighed. "Look, Stefan and I are going to check on the tomb. Maybe if we all just take a break, get some space, then we can regroup later and discuss this like the adults I know we all are. Alright?"

Damon watched, unhappily, as Stefan and Caroline left without another word. It was quiet for a moment, as Damon stood still, completely lost in the midst of a thought. Nobody really wanted to disturb him, but the silence was getting uncomfortable. Every second that went by was getting them closer to Elena's death. So Jeremy finally spoke up.

"What the hell are we going to do?" he asked.

Damon didn't turn, didn't even flinch, at the sound of his voice, even when he answered. "I'll tell you what we're going to do," he explained, quietly. "We're going to save her."

Then, he broke out of his stance and ran up the stairs. As he left, Jeremy couldn't help but mouth a "yes" and pump his fist once. But then Damon whirled around halfway up the stairs and looked at each of them.

"Quarterback," he barked, and Matt jumped. "Go get the body at the boardinghouse. But be prepared. The sun's not up yet, so Katherine's still wandering around in ghost form and might be feeling a little protective of it. Oh, and don't get caught by the forehead or blondie."

Matt nodded, and disappeared out the door.

"You two," he nodded at Bonnie and Jeremy as soon as Matt was gone. "Follow me."

They went upstairs, to Elena's bedroom, and surrounded her bedside. It took a moment for them to get used to the sight of her, having not actually looked at her in a few minutes, but Damon was the only one who immediately knelt down beside her. But he didn't take her hand. Her skin was just too fragile to be handled.

"Shouldn't we put the blanket over her?" Jeremy wondered, trying to avoid looking at the areas where her dress had been burnt to nothing.

"Even the sheets are too heavy, Jere," Bonnie murmured, sullenly.

He nodded. Blankets were light as feathers, and yet they were too much for her damaged body to handle. How had she become so weak? One single explosion, and suddenly they had to fight just to keep her alive. He didn't like how she was unconscious. He would rather he could speak to her, tell her it was all going to be okay.

If only he knew for himself.

"So what can you do for her now?" Damon asked Bonnie, not taking his eyes off of her still face.

Bonnie set her bag that she put her magical herbs and such inside of on the desk and pulled out the grimoire Lucy had given her just before they left for Mystic Falls. After a few moments of flipping through, she found the pages that Lucy had dog-eared. All of them were about channeling. And even one of them, miraculously, was how to induce channeling in another.

"Found it," she said, and then brought the book with her over to the bed, where she gently placed it on the pillows, careful not to jostle Elena. She knelt down, across from Damon, and sighed. "Now we wait for Matt."

* * *

"Remember, we can't go inside without being trapped in there with them," Stefan said, as he led the way down the steps into the circular underground room they had discovered what seemed like so long ago. They approached the dark doorway to the tomb.

Caroline squinted, trying to find anything through the blackness. "Can you see them in there?"

"No," he said. "I've got flashlights in the car. I can go get them."

She nodded as he turned and went back up the stone steps. It wasn't until after she could no longer hear the sound of his footsteps in the grass above that she heard another set of footsteps from inside the tomb.

She froze. "Hello?"

A figure appeared at the doorway, a lot closer than Caroline had anticipated. She jumped backward as her eyes adjusted and the figure slowly turned into Klaus.

"Caroline," he murmured. "I was wondering when you would visit me in this exile."

* * *

Matt found Katherine's body in the basement, tossed on the floor beside the freezer full of blood bags.

He had never been this deep in the Salvatore house, but he'd never been too curious either. In fact, he tried to ignore the smell of blood and the image of the hospital being robbed as he bent over and picked up Katherine's ankles.

"Did you really think," said a purring voice from behind him, "that I would let you take my body just because you have dreamy blue eyes?"

He dropped her feet and whiled around to find Katherine just a few inches away from him, staring at him with evil feline eyes.

"Look, I need this for Elena," he explained, angrily. "If you don't let me have it, she's going to die."

"Aw," she murmured, jutting out her lower lip, her voice thick with mock sympathy. "Poor little Elena. You know I'd do anything I can to help her, but I just don't want to."

Then, all of a sudden, she grabbed him by the ear and shoved him sideways into the wall. His right temple took most of the impact and caused him to have a moment of dizziness. But he quickly pushed himself off of his hands and knees and stood back up.

Katherine stepped forward, stalking him like a predator would to a prey. "In fact, I'd really rather she would die, that way she can join me in my eternity on the Other Side, and I can make sure she suffers forever."

Matt's heart kicked into overdrive, and adrenaline flooded his veins. He kept glancing back and forth between Katherine, getting closer and closer, and her body on the floor.

When her fierce eyes darken until they were red, and purple veins slid down her cheeks, he knew she was about to pounce.

Then, hands grabbed her head from behind and snapped her neck with a quick bone-crunching sound.

She fell down, revealing who was behind her.

Matt sighed in relief when he saw it was Vicki, smiling down at him, almost amused. She wrapped her fingers around his elbows, steadying him.

"You looked like you needed some help," she laughed.

He nodded, trying to catch his breath. "You have no idea."

"Now why don't we get this body over to Elena?"

* * *

"I actually came to talk to you," Caroline confessed, and glanced up at the stairs, checking for Stefan. "Elena's hurt, like really badly hurt. And since she's a doppelganger, she doesn't heal like normal vampires, and she's rejecting our blood."

"And you come to _me_?"

She sighed. "So I thought if there was anyone who knew how we could save her, then it would be you. Please, Klaus."

He leaned against the doorway and crossed his arms. "And why should I help you when you're about to kill me? It's only a matter of time before the Donovan boy comes to dagger me with your special toy. I'd have to be exceptionally moral to offer my aid, and in case you have not yet discovered for yourself, that's just not the man I am."

"Can't you find it in your heart to just tell me how to help my best friend?" she begged. "I mean by the time the sun rises, the ghosts are going to be gone, and I won't ever see my mom again. And I can't lose my mom and my best friend all at once, I just can't." By the time she finished, she was in tears.

She wanted to slap herself for crying. It hadn't exactly been her intention for Klaus to see her cry. She really hadn't planned on that being the way to sell him. But whatever she had had in mind, it seemed to actually be working. Klaus' eye softened just the slightest bit.

"I'm so sorry," he murmured, "about your mother. I never meant for her to die, and if I had any say, she'd still be alive. No one should ever have to live without both their parents, especially when they loved each other as much as you did."

This wasn't what she had expected him to say. Suddenly, she was suspicious. "Are you trying to guilt trip me?"

"If I were, you wouldn't have noticed."

She had to admit that he was probably right. Her lips turned up into a smile. "Right. Sorry. I guess I'm not really one to talk, huh? I mean your situation was way worse than mine ever was."

He didn't say anything. He just watched her in a way that almost made her uncomfortable if it wasn't so praising.

"Can I ask you a question?" she suddenly blurted out.

"Anything."

"Okay." She laughed lightly, mostly at herself, and then took a deep breath. "If this really is the last time I'm ever going to see you, then I have to know. Have you ever done something that you regret? And I don't mean because you got caught, or some other evil reason, but really… Do you regret anything?"

Her question seemed to catch him off guard, but he didn't take that long to consider his answer.

"I regret not telling you that I loved you sooner," he said, quietly. "Maybe, if I had, you would be with me right now instead of Tyler. You might even be inside this tomb with me. But we'll never know."

Caroline breath caught in her throat.

He loved her? Was he even capable of love? Moments ago, she would have said no. But his confession seemed so deep, so heart-breaking, that it made her wonder just how many emotions he was harboring inside of him. And she was the only one he could show them to. It was actually quite flattering.

Then she began to wonder. What if you could do anything you wanted to and get away with it? What if there was nobody watching you? What if you were sure that the person you were with would never tell anyone what happened?

What would you do?

She would be lying if she said that she never had a thought about what it would be like to be with Klaus. It was always a wonderful feeling to have someone who wanted you so much that they would do anything to make you happy. Of course, she loved Tyler, and she was happy with him, but nothing about their relationship was romance novel type material. And that was what her teenager heart dreamed of.

Stefan wasn't back yet. They were all alone in the darkness.

She had to be careful, but out of the corner of her eye, she saw the fabric over his elbow pressing against the wall that separated him from the rest of the world. His face was so close to that line. The opportunity was dangling in front of her…

Clutching her hands into fists, she leaned forward and very quickly pressed her lips up to the nonexistent wall. As she shut her eyes, she could feel his breath on her cheeks, his eyelashes fluttering against hers. He closed the distance between them, and his mouth was on hers.

It was one lovely, electrifying, heart pounding, toe curling, goose bumps on your arms second that she would never forget. The only similar sensation would be sticking your head out of the car sunroof on a bright sunny day as you drive by the ocean. You close your eyes, and the moment captures you in its embrace.

When she heard the sound of Stefan's shoes hitting the stone steps, she jumped back, feeling the rush of blood to her cheeks.

She was almost worried that Stefan would notice her embarrassment and think that something was up, but he didn't, which was a relief. Besides, she had every right to be worried. She had kissed _Klaus_, for God's sake.

But it never happened. Not really, anyways.

* * *

"Is she okay? Are we too late?" Matt demanded, as he carried Katherine's body into Elena's bedroom, followed by Vicki.

"What the hell is she doing here?" Damon asked as he eyed Vicki. "I distinctly remember watching you die."

She smiled cheekily at him. "It's a good thing I'd rather spend time with Mattie than get revenge on the man-slut who ruined my life."

Bonnie sighed. "Okay, okay. We're running out of time here. Stefan and Caroline could get back at any minute. Matt, put the body—carefully—on the bed beside Elena."

He slid between Jeremy and Vicki and laid Katherine's body on the other side of Elena's queen bed, next to Elena's badly burnt body. He grimaced at the smell of her crispy hair as he hurriedly went to stand in the back of the room.

Damon put his hand as close to Elena's as possible. "You ready for this, witch?"

She noted the doubt in his voice as she bowed her head over the grimoire and clasped her hands together. "I can do it. I just need it to be quiet."

It got so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. Nobody moved. Nobody even dared to breathe as Bonnie began muttering incantations under her breath. Jeremy regretted putting all his weight onto his left foot, because now he was entirely uncomfortable but he didn't want to shift. All of his trivial worries were forgotten though as the air in the room suddenly changed.

The spell was working. Even he could fell it, deep in his bones. He watched Bonnie and knew that nothing could divert her attention now. She was locked into the magic, which was a good sign. The spell was working.

He began to notice the slightest differences from the bodies on the bed. Elena's blackened form slowly became still. The rise and fall of her chest dissipated. At first, he thought maybe this was what they were afraid of, that the injuries had finally taken their toll, but something inside of him refused to believe this. And maybe it was that, now, Katherine's lifeless body did the exact opposite.

It was like inflating a balloon. The grayish complexion across her skin dissolved into the glowing olive tone it used to be. Her hair changed minimally in color, darkened to its original rich black. Then her shoulders took on a life of their own. She was actually breathing.

Jeremy's eyes widened.

As Bonnie lifted her head back up, he felt the magical weight fly off of him. The entire room was still as they waited.

Elena gasped to life inside of Katherine's body.

**AN: Sorry if this chapter seems a little half-hearted. I really wanted to go all out for my last couple of chapters, but Thursday is just so close… I couldn't afford to waste another day on this!**

** Here is the first (and slightly smaller) thank you to my awesome reviewers! You guys have been so great this whole time! You stuck by me for every chapter! I love you guys! (There will be a much larger acknowledgments next chapter!)**

***Weeps. This is the very last synopsis I am ever going to give! It hurts me in ways that are too graphic for children under 13!** **I should have one of those ratings warnings over my sadness!**

** But, sigh, here is the synopsis for chapter twenty-two:**

**_TAKE ME THERE- Elena learns to adjust to life in her new body, and, with Damon's help, finally conquers her fears. Bonnie and Jeremy come to a new step in their relationship. Caroline helps Stefan move on._**


	22. Chapter 22

"…She was a mother, a friend, and a caring sheriff. She will remain in our hearts forever," the pastor called loudly to the crowd gathered around the coffin.

The sun beat down on the service like a pulse of heat that bathed the meadow around them in light. Beautiful little pink flowers bloomed all around them amidst the tall grass. The long, brown coffin was centered in the middle, decorated in a rich green wreath beside a framed photo of Sheriff Forbes.

Elena stared at the ground in front of her as the pastor spoke, not wanting to look at him or the coffin. It was all too grim for her to take.

On the bright side, at least enough time had passed since she took over Katherine's body that people no longer asked her why she looked different. "Have you done something new to your hair?" they would ask. It was getting quite annoying, trying to play off the slight differences between her and Katherine's bodies as a makeover or something along those lines. Now all she had to do was explain her sudden intense strength.

Strength was actually something she had plenty of these days. Considering Katherine was at least five hundred times older than she was, it made sense that Elena would inherit her muscle. Also, other unexpected traits that came with the body were overly callused feet—which was probably because of the many high heels Katherine had worn—and a much more aching hunger that never seemed to go away.

Katherine must have fed herself often, because Elena suddenly always had the urge to drink human blood. Whether this was because her body was different of because of Katherine herself, she didn't know. But whatever the reason, it was a necessary sacrifice that she would gladly make if it meant she had a body to live in.

Damon squeezed her hand, and she glanced up at him curiously.

His eyes flickered to a spot over her shoulder and then back to her. She understood what this meant and turned around to see what he was looking at.

Just a few dozen yards across the meadow, Caroline was sitting at a stone bench underneath a large tree, with her face buried in her hands. Elena sighed, released Damon's hand, and went to her, nudging Bonnie as she passed by.

As they approached Caroline, they heard the soft sounds of her weeping muffled by her hands. Bonnie sat beside her on the bench and wrapped her arm around her shoulders. Elena stood across from them, watching her with a painful expression on her face.

"How you doing, Care?" Bonnie wondered softly.

She lifted her head to reveal the mascara smudges underneath her eyes. "I shouldn't have left the service. I should be over there. I should stay and watch my own mother's funeral…"

"Yeah, you should," Elena said. "But nobody does, because nobody can. It's just too hard. And we don't blame you for having to step aside. It's what any of us would do. I mean it was your _mom_. You deserve as much time to grief as you need."

"Elena's right," Bonnie agreed. "When my Grams died, I thought I had finally accepted it. But then it came time for the funeral, and I lost it. Seeing everyone in black and all the flowers, it made it all seem so real."

"But how were you finally able to not be sad all the time?"

"We still are," Elena answered, solemnly. "All the time. But after a while, you learn how to hide it behind all these happy emotions until you can't even find it anymore. That's when you move on, when you can balance the good with the bad."

Matt and Stefan walked up to them, slowly, moving carefully as if they were afraid they would upset Caroline. Stefan had his hands in his pants pockets, and Matt was fiddling with his fingers, uncomfortably.

"How are you holding up?" Stefan asked her.

"Actually," she began, with sudden realization. "A lot better than I was a few moments ago. Thanks, guys. You really helped me." She wiped her tears away with a tissue and then laughed, suddenly. "I probably look like a mess, don't I?"

"Yes, you do," Damon finished, coming up from behind Elena. He had something smooth and round in his hand and he set it down on the bench on the other side of Caroline. It was a bottle of tequila. "I thought you might be needing this."

Bonnie reached over and picked up the bottle, inspecting the label. Then she looked up at Damon with a smile she couldn't help. "Strawberry?"

He shrugged and wrapped his arm around Elena's waist.

Caroline laughed again, for real this time. It was a beautiful and bubbly sound that they hadn't heard for a while. "Thank you so much, you guys. I have the best friends in the world."

"No," Bonnie murmured, rubbing her back. "We do."

* * *

Jeremy listened to the sound of his knife blade hitting the cutting board as he chopped up an onion. With sticky fingers, he scooped up the bits and dumped them into the sauté pan just as there was a knock on the door.

He rinsed of his hands and went to open the door for Bonnie.

"Bonnie," he smiled, noticing the large suitcase she had on the ground beside her. Confused, he took it from her and set it inside by the coat rack as he ushered her to come in. "What's up? I didn't know you were coming over."

"Me neither," she admitted. "But earlier today, at the funeral, I got to thinking about life and death and all that sentimental stuff. And I realized that I didn't want to go home. I mean what's at home? My dad, who can't even stand to talk about my magic and is hardly ever there to _complain_ about me talking about my magic too much. Anyways, I was wondering if you didn't mind if I stayed here tonight, and maybe tomorrow."

He grinned widely. "Okay, but I should warn you that every bed is broken except for mine," he said, and then groaned. "I'm sorry. I thought that would be charming but it came out stupid."

Bonnie giggled and then placed her hands on either side of his face. "That's okay. I don't mind sharing with you."

They kissed for about thirty seconds straight as Jeremy fully comprehended what was going on. Bonnie was moving in with him. They would go to sleep together and wake up together. He would stop and touch her hair as she brushed her teeth in his bathroom mirror, or she would wear his shirt when they went downstairs to get snacks for their long night awake and talking. It would be like sharing a room with a best friend, because you just loved the company, but it also came with sex.

When she pulled her face away from his, she sniffed twice. "That smells good. What are you making?"

He kissed her nose quickly, and then smiled. "Lemon chicken."

* * *

"Come on, scaredy-cat," Damon whined, his torso turned to look at her in the passenger seat of his car. "Just grit your teeth and get it over with."

Elena glanced nervously at the diner through the window, all the way through the glass walls where her parents were sitting at their usual booth. Each and every time she would catch sight of their calm faces, her stomach would do a back flip.

She paused with her hand on the car door handle. "You know what? I don't think it's quite the right time for this. We should just go and come back later."

"Nope." He shifted so that his arm was resting on the back of her seat. "You are doing this now, whether you like it or not. I promised you when we lived through the Founder's Ball that I would make sure you got to see your parents."

"But I'm not ready," she complained.

He sighed. "We all made it out of the party with our lives, right?"

"Sort of—"

"And I always keep my promises, correct?"

"Yeah, I guess, but—"

"No buts," he said, sternly. "Now get your ass into that restaurant and talk to those people so I can keep this promise."

Elena groaned, and shoved out of the car, closing the door rather tersely. She turned around to look at Damon one last time. "You're going have to make this up to me sometime, you know."

He nodded, grinning smugly. "I know."

Then she squared her shoulders and approached the entrance to the diner.

* * *

Caroline came up from behind Stefan and threw her purse onto the bar counter as she took a seat next to him.

"Hold off on whatever you are doing," she said with a smile. "Because we are celebrating."

He sighed. "Caroline, what's there to celebrate? Your mom, one of my friends, is dead. Elena's body is in the ground. And now she's off with my brother doing God knows what. This is hardly a time for celebration, but a time for drinking." Then he lifted his glass of bourbon and ice to his lips.

"Too bad. I am not going to let your pessimistic mood get in the way of our celebrating. Klaus is daggered up in a coffin that only we have the key to and he is never going to interfere in our lives again."

Stefan shrugged and raised his glass up. "I guess I'll drink to that."

But something about him was off. Caroline watched him drink, disappointed with his half-hearted enthusiasm. Nobody around _her_ was going to be anything less than blindingly happy. Her eyes softened and she placed her hand over his.

"Are you okay?" she wondered. "You know, there's no shame in telling a friend what's wrong."

He stared at the wall.

"Is it Elena? Is it Damon?"

"No, it's Elena _and_ Damon. Both of them…together. It all just makes me wish I were floating down the river alongside Klaus in a coffin of my own."

"Don't say that," she scolded. "You are so much better off without Elena, okay? Look, I've seen you together and I've seen you apart, so I know. She brings you down. All that relationship drama just isn't you. You're better as the lonely, sexy vampire who occasionally picks up a hot girl at the bar." She giggled.

He laughed with her. "You're thinking of my brother."

"Actually, I am the last person on the planet you will ever catch wasting a single thought on Damon Salvatore," she shivered. "But seriously, I will prescribe for you to take a page out of the Damon handbook and move on with your life. Like me, for instance. You know, if going to my own mother's funeral was what it took for me to get a kick in the rear, then so be it."

"Caroline," he sighed. "You are the most stubborn person I have ever met, but you might be on to something."

"Of course I am," she said, simply. "Now get your keester out of that chair and come help me celebrate, because you have the rest of forever to have fun and cherish life. Why not start now?"

He couldn't disagree as he followed her out of the Grill, leaving his past behind him and diving into his future, whole-heartedly.

* * *

Elena walked slowly down the aisle between the rows of red vinyl booths until she got to the one her parents were sitting at. At first, they didn't notice she was standing there, considering her dad had his nose deep in a newspaper and her mother was sliding an egg around her plate with a fork. But after a moment of uncomfortable standing, they looked up and jumped.

That was the second that Elena realized there was no going back. At least before they saw her she knew that she could chicken out if she needed to, but it was different now. The time for escape had passed, and by the way they were staring at her, she wished that she could just turn and run back to Damon.

"Elena?" her mother gasped, her fork frozen on its journey to her mouth. "Wha-what are you doing here? How did you find us?"

Was she disappointed with her first words? Maybe a little. Or maybe it was just because she had spent a long time wondering what exactly would be the first thing they would say upon seeing her, and she had high expectations. They couldn't be blamed for that.

"Friends of Bonnie's grams," she answered, her voice shaking. "And you don't have to explain. They told me why you left Jeremy and me. It took a while for me to come around, but I think I understand now."

They exchanged a glance, and then her dad slid a to the other side of the seat and patted the space next to him. "Why don't you sit down, Elena?"

"Would you like us to order you some coffee?" her mom asked as Elena perched herself on the edge pf the cushion, a good few inches left between her and her father. "Are you hungry? I could get you some pancakes…"

"No, thank you," she replied, awkwardly. "Actually, I can't stay long. My boyfriend is waiting out in the car."

Her mom's face was surprised. "Boyfriend? Do we know him?"

She shook her head. "Probably not. His name is Damon," she said, and then hesitated. "Damon Salvatore."

Her father stiffened. "You're dating a Salvatore? As in…"

"Yeah, the infamous vampire brothers whose dad was one of the founders of Mystic Falls. That's the one."

There was a soft sigh from her mother. "So you know…about vampires then?"

Here it was, the moment Elena had been dreading ever since Lucy first revealed that her parents had survived the car wreck. It was why she had been putting this meeting off for so long. But Damon was right. She just had to grit her teeth and get it over with.

"Well, yes. But more than that," she mumbled, "I am one."

They froze. Her mother's jaw dropped to the table, and her dad unconsciously shifted away from her. Elena stared at the napkin dispenser and the blurry reflection of the ketchup bottle next to it. She was grateful that she had refrained from mentioning the fact that she was also in a five hundred year old vampire's body. That probably would have been too much for them to handle.

But then she felt a hand cover her own hand on the table. She raised her head to see her mother had reached over to touch her. This was the exact opposite reaction than she was expecting.

"Elena," she murmured. "You are our daughter, no matter who gave birth to you or what you've become. I'm not going to blame you for something that probably could have been prevented if your father and I had stuck around and given you the family you and Jeremy deserved. We love you, and we always will."

A slow smile spread across her face. Looking to her right, she saw that her dad had an expression that said that he agreed with her mother.

Something inside of her clicked in that instant, and she wondered why she had been so worried about talking to her parents for the first time since the accident. Of course they would accept her despite the fact that she was just another of a species that they despised. They were her _parents_ after all. They had always been so understanding, even when she brought home a bad grade or did something they didn't approve of. They loved her no matter what.

That was what she had come for. So it was time to leave.

With regret, she turned to look at her mother in the eye. When her pupils dilated, she knew it was working properly.

"You're not going to remember any of this," she whispered, her throat forming a large lump. "I was never here. You and dad had the usual dinner here, discussed current events, and then went home. This never happened."

She did the same to her dad, and then removed herself from the diner. As the door closed behind her, she felt like she had left a piece of herself in that booth with them. It hurt more and more as she put more distance in between them. But at some point, the pain became more of a numb sensation, and Elena realized that she was satisfied with the way that that had gone.

Damon's car was waiting in the same spot, but instead of climbing into the passenger's side, she swung around and leaned into his window.

He smiled at her expectantly. "How'd it go?"

"Like you weren't listening." She rested her chin on her arms as she leaned on his door. "I have something for you."

His eyebrows pulled together as she dug inside of her purse and pulled out her green leather diary. She handed it to him, and he took it, obviously confused.

"This is your diary."

"I know. I thought about it while I was in there, and I realized that my whole life, every entry in this thing, I've been writing to you. Even before I met you, I was writing to you. So it's yours now."

He held the journal between his fingers, examining it with a peculiar look on his face. She could tell his immediate reaction was to wonder what the hell she was doing, and this actually made her smile, watching him fight the urge to laugh. But instead, the corners of his lips turned upward.

"You're giving me your diary?" he repeated. "Are you sure?"

"I'm more sure than I've ever been in my entire life."

Setting the diary down on his lap, he looked up at her with electrified eyes and pressed his lips to hers for longer than a few moments, but Elena didn't mind. His mouth was alive with this unfamiliar excitement. When they pulled apart, he laughed at her, just so very lightly. "Thank you. Now get your ass in here. I think it's time I make this thing up to you."

"What are you talking about?"

"Get in and you'll see."

Without another word, she walked around the car and hopped into the passenger seat, shutting the door and turning towards him. She waited for him to elaborate on what he meant.

He started the car and pulled out of the parking lot. "Have you ever been to Los Angeles?"

Puzzlement colored her face. "Los Angeles? No, I don't think so. Why?"

"Because I'm taking you there," he replied. "Tonight. I'll show you L.A. Then we'll spend the night in a hotel and head for somewhere else in the morning. It can be wherever you want, as long as there's booze, of course."

Elena gasped. "I don't believe this."

"You're a vampire, Elena. It's time you start acting like one, and I'm going to help you. It's your obligation to the fangs to explore the world and live a little."

It was almost hard for her to digest, because her brain refused to accept that she was looking forward to something. But she was, and it was all thanks to Damon. "I love you," she told him. "So much.

"And I love you," he replied, easily, as if there were no question to it.

The road stretched out endlessly underneath their tires as the golden sun sank below the tree line. The world around her had changed, but she hadn't even really considered just how much until now. Klaus was no longer a problem anymore. They could live their lives without the fear that at any moment, he could swoop in and ruin everything. Her parents were alive, and happy in their lives, which was all she could ask for. It was a new and _better _world, and she wanted to experience it, every square inch of it. But most importantly, she wanted Damon to take her there.

**AN: Oh my gosh, this is really it, guys! No more story! Holy mother of pearl, this hurts me very much! I'm so used to it. It's going to be so hard trying to remember that I'm done with it. Every time I get a new idea or something, I'll have to stop and think 'wow, I no longer have a story to put this in'! But the weirdest part is all the time I'm going to have.**

**At least I hit my goal though. Yes, it was extremely close, but as long as it was finished before 7:00 pm on October 3, I'm proud. Oh, and Happy Premiere Day! I tweeted that this day is kind of like Christmas for TVD fans! Haha!**

**And also, a BIG HUGE thank you to all of my reviewers, one-timers and those of you who stuck around for all 22! I don't know where this story would be without you! As far as Fanfiction relationships go, I love you guys! And thank you for loving my story! I honestly never thought it would get this far, and it is all because of you! Thank you so very much!**

**Well, no synopsis…sorry, I have to take a moment to **_**cry my eyeballs out**_**! But hey, season five is starting, so that's something to look forward to and keep my mind off of how sad this is! **

**I hope I don't lose contact with you! Hey, who knows? Maybe I'll write another story soon. But for now, I think I'll just take a break, relax! See you later!**


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